DUANE 
Letters,  addressed  to  the 
people  of  the  United  States, 
in  vindication  of  his  conduct 


ft  . 


L.ETTERS, 


ADDRESSED    TO 


THE  PEOPLE  OF  THE   UIWTED   STATES, 


nr  VINDICATION  OF  HIS  CONDrCT, 


BT 

Wm.    J.   DUAWE, 

LATK    SECHETAKT    OF    THE    TREASUUT. 


1§34. 


•'  Euiherus  replied,  '  I  should  find  it  very  difficult  to  submit  to  be  a  slave.' 
'  '  Yet,'  said  Socrates,  •  the  magistrates  in  republics,  and  all  that  are  in  employ- 

•  *  ments,  are  not  therefore  reputed  slaves  :  on  the  contrary  they  are  esteemed 
'  '  honourable.'  '  Be  it  how  it  will,'  said  Eutherus,  •  I  can  never  bring  my  mind 
'  'to  suffer  that  another  man  should  blame  me.'  'And  yet,' said  Socrates, 
'  •  you  would  be  very  much  puzzled  to  find  any  one  action,  whose  every  cir- 
'  *  cumstance  was  exempt  from  blame.  For  it  is  very  difficult  to  be  so  exact  as 
'  •  not  to  fail  sometimes,  and  even  though  we  should  not  have  failed,  it  is  hard 
'  '  to  escape  the  censure  of  bad  judges :  And  I  should  very  much  wonder  if  in 
'  '  what  you  now  do,  no  man  should  find  any  thing  amiss.  What  you  are,  there- 
'  '  fore,  to  observe  is,  to  avoid  those  who  make  it  their  business  to  find  fault 

*  '  without  reason,  and  to  have  to  do  with  more  equitable  persons.'  " 

"  The  Memorable  Things  of  Socrates." — Book  II.  p.  85. 


f 


TO 

THE    PEOPLE 


OF 


THE    U]¥ITED    STATES. 


LETTER  I. 


Fellow-Citizens  ; 

When  I  was  rudely  thrust  from  office,  on  the  23d  of  Sep- 
tember last,  I  resolved,  for  the  reasons  stated  in  my  letter  to 
Governor  Tazewell,  to  rest  upon  my  acts  as  an  officer  and  my 
reputation  as  a  man,  unless  the  one  should  be  misrepresented,  or 
the  other  assailed.  And  in  order  that  the  responsibility  of  any 
disclosure  of  past  occurrences  should  rest  upon  the  President, 
I  notified  him,  ere  I  left  Washington,  on  the  27th  of  September 
last,  that  I  should  hold  him  accountable  for  the  malconduct  of 
the  publisher  of  his  official  paper  ;  and  that,  as  the  public  repu- 
tation usually  suffered  in  conllicts  between  the  chief  magistrate 
and  e>f-ministers,  1  would  avoid  a  controversy,  and  only  repel 
assaults  which  he  should  sanction. 

So  little  effisct  had  this  suggestion,  and  so  necessary  did  it  ap- 
pear to  the  President  to  prevent  sympathy  for  me,  which  would 
be  censure  upon  himself,  that  the  official  paper  continued,  after 
my  retirement  to  private  life,  td  circulate  the  most  flagitious  im- 
putations upon  my  character  :  and  j'et,  when  the  Presiilent  saw, 
in  a  public  pVint,  an  extract  from  one  of  my  private  letters,  pub- 
lished without  my  consent,  and  containing  nothing  but  the  truth, 
he  affected  to  be  very  much  oifended  ;  and,  instead  of  directing 

A 


4 
•i    (     2     ) 

a  refutation  of  what  I  had  said,  he  broke  the  seals  that  closed 
the  cabinet  and  our  correspondence,  in  order  to  sustain  a  false 
and  malignant  attack  upon  me  on  the  19th  of  November  last. 

It  was  necessary  to  notice  this  ;  but,  even  on  that  occasion,  I 
did  not  become  an  assailant ;  nor  did  I  invite  the  people  to  look 
upon  the  stage,  much  less  behind  the  scenes,  where  their  dearest 
rights  and  interests  are  sported  with  by  incognito  performers. 
On  the  contrary,  I  merely  published  a  brief  defensive  address, 
so  little  indicative  of  resentment,  that  it  was  pronounced,  even 
by  dispassionate  men,  as  reprehensibly  mild.  -      ^ 

Several  grave  questions,  connected  with  my  case,  nave  long 
been  discussed,  not  only  in  congress,  but  throughout  the  coun- 
try. The  instructions  given  to  the  President's  agent  for  making 
inquiries  as  to  state  banks,  are  before  the  senate  of  the  United 
States;  and  in  my  own  defence,  I  ought  to  give  some  explanation 
respecting  them.  Doubts  have  been  expressed  on  the  floor  of  that 
body,  whether  there  had  been  due  foresight  and  warning  as  to 
the  evils  that  now  exist ;  and  it  is  due  to  myself  at  least,  that  I 
should  show,  that  in  this  respect,  as  well  as  in  others,  I  did  my 
duty.  In  September  last,  the  President  appealed  to  the  people,  by 
publishing  his  reasons  for  directing  a  removal  of  the  public  de- 
posites;  and  as  soon  as  congress  assembled,  my  successor  in  the 
treasury  department  presented  a  statement  in  relation  to  his 
agency  in  removing  them.  It  seems,  therefore,  to  be  a  duty  to 
myself,  if  not  to  the  public,  to  present,  in  detail,  my  reasons  for 
resisting  the  President;  and,  at  least  his  friends  cannot  complain 
of  my  appealing  to  the  people,  since  in  doing  so  I  barely  imitate 
his  own  example. 

If  I  had  heretofore  felt  any  doubts  of  the  propriety  of  address- 
ing you,  they  would  be  now  removed.  My  correspondence  and 
conversations  with  the  President  were  again  misrepresented  in 
his  official  paper  of  the  7th  instant ;  and,  at  the  same  time  vile 
aspersions,  palpably  sanctioned  by  him,  were  again  cast  upon 
my  reputation.  So  that,  even  if  no  obligation  of  a  public  nature 
required  some  explanaj^ion  now,  it  is  demanded  and  justified  by 
this  new  display  of  vindictiveness. 

Under  ordinary  circumstances  some  of  my  fellow-citizens 
might,  perhaps  with  propriety,  censure  any  exhibition  of  docu- 
ments, or  exposition  offsets  on  my  part;  but,  I  trust,  that  they 
will  now  reflect,  that  it  is  in  self  defence  I  resort  to  the  course 
pursued  by  the  President  himself;  and  that  I  have  preserved 


^ 


#•?. 


(     3     )  ^^ 

silence  for  nearly  five  months,  amidst  invitations  and  even  taunts 
on  one  side,  and  a  slanderous  persecution  on  th&,other.  # 

Without  saying,  therefore,  at  the  outset,  how  far  I  may  go,  I 
consider  myself  released  from  all  impediments,  but  those,  which 
a  sense  of  duty  to  the  public  and  respect  for  myself  may  impose. 


^ 


n 

Although  personally  unacquainted  with  General  Jackson  until 
1829,  I  ardently  supported  him  as  a  canclidate  for  the  Presi- 
dency as  early  as  1823.  I  thought  that  fi^f  country  owed  him 
a  large  debt  of  gratitude ;  that  it  would  be  useful  to  our  institu- 
tions, to  have  in  the  executive  chair  a  person  unaccustomed  to 
intrigues,  but  too  prevalent  at  the  seat  of  government;  and  that 
he,  who  had  given  such  sound  advice  to  Mr.  Monroe,  whilst 
President,  would  never  contradict  in  practice  himself,  what  he 
had  then  declared  to  be  the  only  patriotic  and,  honourable  course 
of  the  chief  magistrate  of  a  free  and  enlightened  people. 

In  1828,  I  renewed  my  exertions  in  his  favour,  at  no  little  sa- 
crifice of  personal  friendship  and  pecuniary  interest,  and,  when 
he  was  successful,  I  heartily  rejoiced  ;  but,  I  confess,  that  as  soon 
as  I  saw  some  former  professions  contradicted  by  subsequent 
practice,  I  felt  sincere  regret.  I  respected  the  President's  in- 
tentions, and  flattered  myself  that  he  would  return  to  the  path, 
from  which  he  might  have  incautiously  wandered.  I  was  not, 
however,  a  partisan ;  General  Jackson,  now  in  power,  did  not 
need  aid  from  me.  Men,  who  had  stood  in  the  ranks  of  his  op- 
ponents when  I  advocated  him,  passed  over  to  his  side  when 
he  won  "the  spoils  of  victory,"  and  got  no  inconsiderable  por- 
tion of  them.  As  to  myself  personally,  I  desired  to  partake  of  the 
fruits  of  the  triumph,  only  as  a  member  of  the  great  family  of  the 
people. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected,  that  I  should  cease  to  support  the 
general  course  of  the  President,  because  he  erred,  as  I  believed, 
in  various  instances ;  much  less,  that  I  should  cease  to  be  a  member 
of  a  party,  to  which  I  had  always  belonged,  because  its  favourite 
had  not  redeemed  all  his  pledges.  Accordingly,  I  sustained  such  of 
his  measures  as  were  consistent  with  the  fundamental  principles 
of  the  old  republican  party  ;  and,  without  considering  who  advo- 
cated, I  censured  such  as  were  at  variance  with  them.  And  as 
on  the  subject  of  the  Bank  of  the  Uuited  States  more  than  on  any 
other,  I  have  been  grossly  slandered,  with  the  sanction  of  the  P  e- 


(      4      ) 

sident,  I  will  add,  that  I  have  invariably  opposed  that  institution, 
atff.  still  do  so.  Whether  wisely  or  not,  I  adhere  to  the  doctrine 
of  the  Virginia  school  as  to  a  national  bank ;  and  it  is  quite  as  ar- 
bitrary to  condemn  my  independent  exercise  of  judgment  on  this 
point,  as  it  was  in  the  President  to  expect  me  to  change  at  will 
my  convictions  in  relation  to  the  public  deposites,  or  to  accept 
his  reasons  for  doing  an  act,  which  my  own  judgment  condemned. 

Whilst  alluding  to  this  subject,  I  will  take  occasion  to  repel 
the  vile  imputations  of  the  official  paper,  in  relation  to  my  mo- 
tives for  resisting  a  removal  of  the  deposites.  Under  the  Presi- 
dent's sanction,  it  has  been  insinuated,  that  my  course  was  dic- 
tated by  a  corrupt  understanding  with  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States;  and,  in  the  official  paper  of  the  15th  instant,  I  am  even 
called  "the  emissary  of  the  bank." 

Without  any  desire  for  office  on  my  part,  I  had  been  called  to 
a  high  station.  The  selection  was  generally  approved  of;  and 
yet  in  less  than  four  months,  I  was  contumeliously  removed.  To 
excuse  this  act  of  outrage,  became  a  matter  of  much  consequence. 
Sympathy  for  me  would  be  condemnation  of  my  oppressor ;  and, 
therefore,  the  official  paper  sought  to  infuse  into  the  public  mind 
suspicions  as  to  my  purity — suspicions,  which  found  a  ready  re- 
ception on  the  part  of  men,  who,  being  base  themselves,  natural- 
ly supposed,  that  I  could  not  have  made  a  sacrifice  of  office  under 
the  public,  without  an  equivalent  elsewhere. 

In  the  community  of  which  I  am  a  member,  there  are  many 
devoted  friends  of  the  President  who  disagree  with  me  ;  but  I 
think,  there  is  not  one,  who  believes  the  insinuations  of  the  offi- 
cial paper  to  have  any  foundation.  So  far,  therefore,  as  my  im- 
mediate fellow-citizens  are  concerned,  I  might  with  propriety 
treat  these  derogatory  imputations  with  silent  contempt.  But, 
beyond  this  community  I  am  not  generally  known,  and  hence 
it  may  be  expected  by  my  fellow-citizens  at  large,  that  I  should 
notice  them  ;  and  I  feel  the  less  disinclination  to  do  so,  since 
distinguished  senators  have  condescended  in  their  places  to  repel 
similar  imputations.  Accordingly,  I  pronounce  each  and  every 
assertion  or  insinuation  of  the  official  paper,  imputing  corrupt 
or  improper  motives  to  me  for  resisting  a  removal  of  the  depo- 
sites, to  be  false,  foul,  and  malignant.  Further,  I  aver,  that  there 
is  not  even  a  colourable  pretext  or  apology  for  any  of  the  impu- 
tations cast  upon  me.  I  have  never,  directly  or  indirectly,  re- 
ceived, nor  have  I  ever  had  the  promise  or  expectation  of  re- 

0 


(     5     ) 

celving,  any  loan,  fee,  gilt,  benefit,  favour,  consideration,  or 
other  advantage  whataoever  from  tiie  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
or  from  any  of  its  officers.  I  have  never  been  jDresently  nor 
contingently  responsible  to  it,  nor  to  any  of  its  officers.  1  have 
had  no  direct  or  indirect  correspondence  or  communication  with 
the  bank,  nor  with  any  officer  thereof,  with  the  exception  of  let- 
ters on  file  in  the  treasury  department,  and  with  the  exception  also 
of  a  single  letter,  received  from  tlfe  president  of  the  bank,  en- 
closing to  me,  as  a  friend  of  the  late  Mr.  Girard,  his  oration  on 
the  occasion  of  laying  the  corner  stone  of  tlJ$.^Girard  College, 
on  the  4tli  of  July  last ;  to  which  letter  I  merely  gave  such  a 
reply  as  courtesy  calls  for  on  like  occasions.  Fur  from  desiring 
to  favour  the  bank,  I  have  at  all  proper  times  avowed  and 
maintained  my  opposition  to  it.  And,  if  any  words  can  express 
more  fully  and  emphatically  my  absolute  freedom  from  all  design 
to  favour  the  bank,  I  desire  that  they  may  be  considered  as 
used.  I  believed  that  the  bank  was  entitled  to  tKe  deposites  ac- 
cording to  solemn  contract ;  I  believed  that  it  had  a  right  to 
them,  unless  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  could  give  satisfactory 
reasons  to  congress  for  removing  them.  As  secretary  of  the  trea- 
sury I  could  not  give  reasons  satisfactory  to  myself.  I  believed 
that  the  act  of  removing  the  deposites  would  be  unnecessary, 
unwise,  vindictive,  arbitrar}-,  and  unjust ;  and  although  opposed 
to  the  bank,  1  would  not  consent  to  be  made  an  instrument  to 
effect  any  such  scheme,  as  that  which  was  proposed.  Therefore, 
laying  aside,  as  I  was  bound  to  do,  my  personal  prepossessions 
as  a  man,  I  acted  solely  from  considerations,  which  I  dared  not 
to  disregard  as  an  officer. 

It  must  be  manifest,  from  the  conduct  of  the  President,  that  it 
would  give  him  pleasure,  if  he  could  exhibit  a  shadow  of  pruof 
of  the  charges  of  corruption  insinuated  against  me.  I  according- 
ly invite  and  defy  him,  and  all  those  vviio  may  desire  to  gratify 
his  vindictiveness,  or  their  own  passions,  to  point  out  any  act  on 
my  part,  which  can  sustain  the  infamous  imputations  of  collu- 
sion, corrupt  understanding,  or  even  concert  of  action  in  tlie 
slightest  particular,  with  the  United  States  Bank. 

\V.  J.  DUANE. 
February  17,  1834. 


(     6     ) 


LETTER  II. 

Fellow-Citizens  ; 

In  my  first  letter,  I  apologized  for  appearing  before  you, 
showed  that  I  had  been  the  early  and  steadfast  friend  of  General 
Jackson,  pointed  out  the  motive  for  the  persecution  directed 
against  me  which  he  now  sanctions,  and  defied  him  and  his  adher- 
ents to  prove  any  of  their  foul  imputations. 

Even  when  oppressed  in  September  last,  it  will  be  seen,  on 
reference  to  my  letters  of  the  21st  of  that  month,  heretofore  pub- 
lished, that  I  did  not  attribute  the  conduct  of  the  President  to 
any  malignant  motive.  I  then  considered  him  the  mere  instru- 
ment of  men  around  him  w-ho  were  unworthy  of  his  confidence ; 
and  believed  that  he  had  become  the  executioner  of  their  ven- 
geance against  all  who  checked  their  rapacity.  But  I  confess,  that, 
whilst  1  still  believe  the  President  to  be  ruled  by  extraneous  in- 
fluences operating  on  his  passions,  it  is  difficult  charitably  to  ap- 
count  for  his  silence,  whilst  before  his  eyes  acts  are  deliberately 
executed,  which  are  at  variance  with  truth,  justice,  and  charity. 

What  can  be  a  more  serious  charge,  than  to  say,  that,  under 
the  mask  of  friendship,  I  entered  the  cabinet  to  thwart  the  Pre- 
sident, and  favour  an  institution,  which  I  professed  to  oppose  ? 
Yet  serious  as  this  imputation  is,  it  is  sanctioned  by  the  chief 
magistrate!  It  is  sanctioned  in  opposition  to  all  facts,  nay,  in 
contradiction  to  his  declarations  made  to  me  in  writing  as  well  as 
personally,  up  to  the  last  moments  of  our  separation  ! 

To  sustain  so  grave  a  charge,  proof  should  have  been  given ; 
but  all  that  is  said  to  sustain  it  is,  that  I  resisted  the  removal  of 
the  deposites,  and  that,  in  a  letter,  published  at  New  Orleans,  I 
expressed  such  sentiments,  as  showed  that  1  had  been  "  indoctri- 
nated with  all  the  hostility  of  the  bank  opposition."  My  reasons 
for  resisting  the  removal  of  the  deposites  will  be  given  in  a  future 
letter,  when  the  public  will  be  able  to  judge  how  far  that  re- 
sistance sustains  the  vile  imputation  which  I  am  now  considering. 
At  present  I  shall  refer  to  the  second  pretext  only  for  this  ca- 
lumny. iHj 

To  a  letter  from  a  friend  at  New  Orleans,  I  wrote  a  reply  in 
October  last,  which  I  regretted  to  see  published  without  my  con- 


u 


(     7     ) 

sent.  From  that  reply  the  official  paper  of  tlie  20th  of  December 
last  made  this  quotation  : 

<<  It  is  but  too  obvious,  either  that  we  misunderstood  the  (jua- 
lities  of  General  Jackson's  head,  or  else  he  has  been  wonderfully 
altered.  On  all  the  cardinal  questions  agitated,  he  has  failed  to 
be  consistent :  he  promised  purity  in  selections  for  office,  yet  few 
have  been  purely  made :  he  professed  to  be  a  friend  to  domestic 
industry,  yet  he  has  done  more  than  any  body  else  to  prostrate 
it :  he  advocated  a  national  government  bank,  and  yet  affects  to 
dread  a  monied  aristocracy:  he  complained  of  the  corruption  of 
one  bank,  and  yet  takes  forty  or  fifty  irresponsible  paper-circu- 
lating banks  under  the  national  wing:  he  has  been  for,  and 
against,  internal  improvement:  he  denounced  nullification,  yet 
he  has  been  of  late  unsaying  all  that  he  had  said  in  his  procla- 
mation. In  sliort,  I  do  not  believe,  he  ever  had  fixed  principles, 
r  ever  arrived  at  any  result  by  the  exercise  of  the  mind;  im- 
fpulses  and  passions  have  ruled.^^ 

The  sketch  here  presented  was  drawn  after  my  retirement  to 
private  life,  and  consequently  after  I  had  availed  myself  of  an 
opportunity,  not  before  enjoyed,  of  closely  examining  the  original. 
When  I  became  one  of  the  President's  advisers,  it  was  my  duty 
to  study  his  moral  and  intellectual  qualities,  as  well  as  his  poli- 
tical principles  and  views;  and  to  this  end,  I  exerted  such  powers 
of  discrimination  as  I  possessed.  The  result  was  a  conviction, 
either  that,  in  the  portraits  which  I  had  drawn,  to  gain  popular 
approbation,  in  1823  and  1828,  I  had  flattered  General  Jackson, 
owing  to  my  having  had  before  me  outlines  only,  taken  by  his 
intimate  friends ;  or  else  that  his  features  had  been  of  kte  greatly 
altered  under  the  influence  of  pride  and  power.  I  naturally  stated, 
in  a  private  letter  to  a  friend,  the  result  of  my  observations,  espe- 
cially as  that  friend  like  myself  had  been  originally  a  great  ad- 
mirer of  General  Jackson  ;  and  I  am  sure,  it  grieved  him  to  hear, 
as  it  did  me  to  have  occasion  to  communicate,  what  contradicted 
so  many  of  our  fond  anticipations. 

The  prominent  characteristics  of  General  Jackson,  according 
to  my  representations  in  1823  and  1828,  were  purity  of  purpose, 
and  steadiness  in  execution.  Hut,  in  1833,  I  became  satisfied, 
that  his  principles,  even  on  cardinal  points,  were  not  fixed;  that 
purposes  were  created  for  him,  the  true  nature  of  which  was  con- 
cealed by  artful  management ;  and  that,  in  carrying  them  into  exe- 
cution, impulse  and  passion  impressed  a  character  of  obstinacy  on 


(     8     ) 

his  conduct,  which,  under  the  exercise  of  the  mind,  would  have 
been  steadiness  in  execution. 

It  is  true,  that,  before  my  entrance  into  office,  I  Avas  aware 
that  the  President  had  been  imposed  upon  in  relation  to  some  ap- 
pointments. 1  also  knew  that  he  had  been  unsteady  in  his  course  as 
to  domestic  industry,  internal  improvement,  and  a  national  bank. 
But,  what  was  my  duty,  when  the  President  invited  me,  as  his 
friend,  to  become  one  of  his  advisers?  If  I  could  reconcile  the 
acceptance  of  office  with  the  doubts  which  I  felt  as  to  my  ability, 
and  with  private  obligations,  I  considered  it  my  duty  to  do  so,  in 
the  hope  that  I  might  render  some  service,  by  striving  to  recon- 
cile his  practice  with  former  profession  ;  by  trying  to  persuade 
him  to  abandon  a  vacillating  course  as  to  manufactures,  since 
nothing  could  be  more  pernicious  to  this  interest  than  uncertainty 
in  legislation  ;  and  by  urging  him  to  adhere  to  a  strict  interpreta- 
tion of  the  constitution,  instead  of  wandering  in  the  mazes  of  con- 
struction, in  relation  to  the  United  States  Bank,  or  other  disputed 
subjects. 

Such  are  the  remarks  which  I  consider  myself  called  upon  to 
make,  in  relation  to  one  of  the  pretexts  for  the  aspersion,  that  I 
entered  the  President's  cabinet  to  thwart  him.  But,  fest  any 
doubt  should  exist  on  your  minds  as  to  my  disinterestedness  or 
to  the  manner  in  which  the  appointment  of  secretary  of  the  trea- 
sury was  conferred  on  me,  I  think  it  proper  to  make  you  ac- 
quainted with  the  following  details  bearing  on  these  points. 

Although  1  never  directly  or  indirectly  asked  any  personal 
favour  from  the  President,  I  do  him  the  justice  to  say,  that  he 
manifested  desire  on  several  occasions  to  promote  what  he  doubt- 
less considered  my  advancement.  With  the  advice  and  consent 
of  the  senate,  he  appointed  me  a  director  of  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States,  but  I  declined  the  trust.  He  afterwards  tendered 
me  the  office  of  attorney  for  the  eastern  district  of  Pennsylvania, 
which  I  also  refused.  Without  my  knowledge,  he  appointed  me, 
with  the  concurrence  of  the  senate,  a  commissioner  under  the  con- 
vention with  Denmark ;  and,  when  I  hesitated  to  accept,  he  press- 
ed the  trust  upon  me,  on  the  ground  that  my  acceptance  would  be 
a  duty  to  the  public,  and  a  relief  to  himself  from  embarrassment. 

Before  I  had  executed  the  duty  under  the  convention  with 
Denmark,  I  was,  on  the  4th  December  1S32,  unexpectedly  in- 
vited to  accept  the  office  of  secretary  of  the  treasury.  And  lest 
any  representation  of    the   circumstances,    attending  the  offer, 


I 


(     9     ) 

should  be  open  to  cavil  on  that  account,  I  shall  not  trust  to  my 
memory,  hut  present  the  following  statement  extracted  from  a 
confidential  letter,  which  I  wrote  on  the  5th  of  December  1832. 
Extracts.  "The  President  has  in  a  formal, kind,  and  pressing 
manner  asked  me  to  accept  a  seat  in  his  cabinet.   I  confess,  I  was 
surprised,  and  not  only  surprised  but  distressed  :  but  it  is  best, 
whilst  the  incidents  are  all  fresh  in  my  memory,  that  I  should 
give  you  a  sketch.   A  member  of  the  cabinet  said — *  ^Ir.  Duane, 
I  have  been  particularly  desired  by  the  President  to  seek  this 
interview  with  you,  on  matters  of  much  consequence,  not  only 
to  himself,  but  to  the  country.    The  President  has  for  some  time 
past  meditated  a  change  in  his  cabinet:  it  has  been  deferred  until 
after  the  termination  of  the  elections  in  the  states;  and,  as  they 
are  now  over,  the  proposed  change  is  urged  anevv.     The  present 
secretary  of  state  is  to  go  to  France ;  the  present  secretary  of  the 
treasury  is  to  take  his  place  in  the  department  of  state;  and  the 
question  is,  who  is  to  go  into  the  treasury?    It  is  settled,  that  a 
citizen  of  Pennsylvania  is  to  be  appointed  ;  the  President  and  his 
friends  have  sought  in  that  state  for  a  person  in  all  respects  com- 
petent as  an  officer,  and  faithful  as  a  friend.    A  list  of  names  has 
been  looked  at,  and,  after  due  inquiry,  the  President  is  decided- 
ly convinced,  that  you.  Sir,  present  the  fairest  claims  to  official 
and  personal  consideration.   You  are  of  the  old  democratic  party 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  have  grown  with  its  growth  ;  you  are  known 
as  a  mild  but  unvarying  friend  of  the  great  political  principles, 
which  Pennsylvania  cherishes.     Your  personal  reputation,  too, 
gives  you  a  moral  influence, of  the  extent  of  which  you  arc  not  per- 
haps yourself  aware ;  you  were  the  early,  and  have  been  the  stead- 
fast friend  of  General  Jackson,  and  should  continue  in  every  pro- 
per way  to  sustain  him  whom  you  contributed  to  elevate.   So  sa- 
tisffed,  indeed,  is  the  President,  of  your  peculiar  fitness  for  the 
department,  and  of  your  being  just  such  a  person  as  he  can  poli- 
tically as  well  as  personally  rely  upon,  that  I  cannot  use  too 
strong  terms,  in  describing  his  solicitude  that  you  should  not  re- 
fuse the  station.' 

"  This  is  more  brief  than  the  reality,  but  pertectly  correct.  I 
replied — 'I  have  listened,  Sir,  to  what  you  have  stated,  with 
surprise,  and  distress ;  so  that  it  cannot  be  supposed  that  I  can 
give  a  positive  reply.  I  cannot  express  how  gratified  and  proud 
I  am  at  this  mark  of  confidence.  If,  however,  I  am  now  to  give 
utterance  to  what  1  feel,  it  is  to  ask  the  President  to  blot  this 

B 


(      10     ) 

matter  from  his  mind.  It  is  true  that  I  have  been  and  am  sincere- 
ly friendly  to  the  President;  that  I  possess  the  personal  and 
political  confidence  of  many  worthy  men  in  Pennsj'lvania; 
and  that  I  have  a  strong  inclination  to  do  all  in  my  power  to 
evince  my  principles  and  promote  the  welfare  of  the  people.  But 
it  is  also  true,  that  my  abilities  are  over-rated  ;  that  my  influence 
in  Pennsylvania  is  more  limited  than  is  supposed,  and  that  no 
weight  can  be  given,  by  my  accession,  to  the  administration. 
Such  an  occasion  as  the  present  cannot  be  heedlessly  regarded  by 
me,  but  all  considerations  united  forbid  me  to  assent.  I  have 
through  life  sought  the  shade,  and  whenever  I  have  been  out  of 
it,  it  has  not  been  from  choice.  I  have  always  desired  to  tread  on 
the  earth,  lest  in  ascending  even  a  single  step  of  the  political  lad- 
der, I  should  be  obliged  to  resume  my  former  place.  Perhaps 
this  is  morbid  pride,  but  be  it  what  it  may,  it  has  a  powerful  in- 
fluence over  me.' 

"To  this  it  was  rejoined, — 'all  you  have  said,  Mr.  Duane, 
shows  you  have  the  merit,  you  deny  yourself  the  possession  of. 
You  have,  by  declining  office  on  several  occasions,  omitted  to 
advance  yourself.  I  am  the  President's  friend  and  yours,  and 
am  not  the  man  to  advocate  any  thing  of  a  doubtful  nature,  by 
which  the  public  may  be  affected.  Others  are  more  competent 
perhaps  to  judge  of  your  qualifications  than  you  are  yourself. 
Heretofore  there  have  been  difficulties  ;  there  may  be  some  at  this 
time,  owing  to  excitement  in  the  South  ;  but  that  will  soon  cease, 
and  in  a  few  months  you  will  be  perfectly  an  fait  as  to  all  gene- 
ral duties.  As  to  your  standing  in  Pennsylvania,  we  have  infor- 
mation to  be  relied  on  ;  we  believe  your  appointjnent  would  be 
pleasing  there,  and  the  President  desires  to  do  what  will  gratify 
that  state.  Apart  from  other  considerations,  the  President's  own 
spontaneous  preference  of  you  is  a  compliment  not  to  be  over- 
looked ;  you  will  derive  credit  from  it,  where  you  are  not  known, 
amongst  all  who  respect  the  patriotism  and  pure  intentions,  as 
well  as  tlie  natural  sagacity  of  the  President.  I  am  persuaded 
that  the  appointment  would  be  acceptable  to  many  of  the  Presi- 
dent's most  distinguished  friends.  Indeed,  the  fact  that  he  goes 
to  the  people,  and  not  to  congress,  to  select,  will  give  weight  to 
the  choice.  You  will  earn  a  high  reputation  in  the  office  proposed  ; 
and  the  labours  will  be  less  burdensome  than  those  to  which  you 
have  been  accustomed,'  &c. 

"I  then  said  'that  to  tear  up,  as  it  were,  by  the  roots,  my 


1 


(  11  ) 

business  in  Philadelphia,  on  the  uncertainty,  or  even  certainty  of 
continuing  in  oirice  here  for  four  years,  would  be  very  impru- 
dent; that  changes  of  residence,  associations,  and  expenditure, 
were  sound  objections;  that  friends  to  me  ought  not  to  urge  a 
proceeding  of  so  doubtful  a  character,'  &c. 

"To  this  it  was  replied — 'that  every  man  owed  something 
to  his  country ;  that  even  on  the  question  of  mere  interest,  the 
change  would  be  advantageous;  that  I  might  be  certain  of  em- 
ployment for  four  years,  at  six  thousand  dollars  per  year;  that 
the  mode  of  living  was  that  of  a  private  gentleman  in  Philadel- 
])hia;  that  by  identifying  myself  with  General  Jackson  and  his 
friends,  and  making  a  sacrifice,  if  it  was  one,  I  established  a  claim 
for  continuance  in  this,  or  appointment  to  some  other  station/ 

'*  I  closed  by  saying  'that,  out  of  thankfulness  and  a  desire 
to  make  a  return  for  such  confidence,  my  heart  urged  me  to  say 
"yes,"  but  my  head  by  no  means  assented;  that  it  would  be 
rude  as  well  as  unkind  to  the  President  to  decide  at  once,  and 
upon  so  sudden  an  appeal  on  so  serious  a  subject;  and  that,  there- 
fore, I  would  reflect.'" 

Such,  fellow-citizens,  is  a  brief  but  faithful  representation  of 
the  manner,  in  which  I  was  invited  to  enter  the  cabinet.  INIy 
disinclination  to  take  office  as  above  expressed,  remained  unal- 
tered. Valued  friends,  whom  I  consulted,  exerted  themselves  to 
induce  me  to  serve;  and,  when  I  was  called  upon  for  a  decision 
on  the  30th  of  January  1833,  I  reluctantly  consented.  When 
my  consent  was  given,  the  President,  on  the  1st  of  February, 
caused  his  satisfaction  to  be  expressed  at  my  determination,  and 
his  "  wishes  that  it  might  confer  a  lasting  benefit  upon  the  coun- 
try and  myself."  When  I  saw  him  in  iSlarch,  he  reiterated  what 
had  been  before  communicated  to  me,  assuring  me  that  he  had 
himself  selected  my  name  from  the  list  before  him.  This  declara- 
tion he  also  made  to  several  of  our  mutual  friends,  whom  I  might 
name  if  needful,  and  who,  I  doubt  not,  when  they  see  this  letter, 
will  be  mortified  to  find,  that  there  should  have  arisen  the  least 
necessity  to  sustain  what  never  should  have  been  brought  in 
question.  But  if  any  thing  further  is  necessary  to  prove  that  the 
President  spontaneously  selected  me,  I  refer  to  his  own  letter  to 
me  of  the  17th  of  July  last,  in  which  he  avows  the  fact,  and 
gives,  amongst  other  reasons,  for  the  selection,  his  desire  to 
elevate  a  name,  which,  although  in  an  humble  sphere,  had  earned 
reputation  in  the  eyes  of  the  people. 


i 


(     12     ) 

Yet,  in  utter  disregard  of  all  these  facts,  the  President  had  the 
hardihood  to  assert,  in  his  official  paper  of  the  20th  of  December 
last,  that  1  "palmed  myself  or  was  palmed  upon  him." 

W.  J.  DUANE. 
February  19,  1834. 


LETTER  III. 

Fellow-Citizens  ; 

In  my  preceding  letter,  I  have  shown,  that  the  President  spon- 
taneously elevated  me  to  the  station  from  which  I  was  so  soon 
afterwards  removed ;  and  that  far  from  taking  office  to  thwart 
him,  I  sought  to  remain  in  the  shade  of  private  life.  I  have  also 
shown,  that,  rather  than  not  gratify  his  vindictive  feelings  against 
me,  he  is  even  content  to  be  considered  a  dupe ;  for  he  says  that 
I  palmed  myself,  or  was  palmed  upon  him.  It  must  be  evident, 
however,  that  if  any  one  was  imposed  upon,  I  was  that  person. 
I  do  not  aver  that  I  was  imposed  upon,  much  less  have  1  a  sus- 
picion, that  the  member  of  the  cabinet,  referred  to  in  my  last 
letter,  did  not  state  the  reasons  of  the  President  for  selecting  me, 
of  which  he  had  knowledge.  Amongst  those  reasons,  the  views 
or  wishes  of  the  President  in  relation  to  the  United  States 
Bank  were  not  enumerated  ;  nor  was  the  subject  ever  referred 
to  in  the  letters  or  conversations,  that  passed  between  the  mem- 
ber of  the  cabinet  and  myself.  In  the  official  paper  of  the  19th 
November  last,  however,  it  was  avowed,  that  the  President  se- 
lected me  because  he  supposed  I  accorded  with  his  views  in  re- 
lation to  the  bank.  So  that  the  main  motive  for  my  selection, 
was  not  before  stated.  I  do  not  say,  that  the  President  concealed 
his  views,  until  after  my  entrance  into  office,  in  order  to  render 
my  accordance  more  certain,  after  I  had  made  so  serious  a  change 
as  that  from  private  to  public  life  ;  I  do  not  believe  that  he  did  ; 
but  I  have  much  more  reason  to  presume,  that  such  was  the  case, 
than  the  President  has  to  suspect,  that  I  entered  into  office  on 
purpose  to  thwart  him. 

Were  I  fully  to  admit,  what  the  official  paper  alleges,  that  I 
knew  that  the  removal  of  the  deposites  was  agitated ;  that  would 
not  affect  the  question  between  the  President  and  me.  If  he  had 
asked  my  opinion,  I  would  have  concurred  in  the  course,  which 
he  was  pursuing  in  December,  1833,  namely,  an  appeal  to  con- 


(     13     ) 

gress.  It  was  the  same  course  which  I  advocated  whilst  I  was 
in  office,  and  which  I  offered  to  pursue  myself.  I  could  have 
had  no  suspicion,  however,  that  the  President  intended  to  aban- 
don in  future  the  very  course  which  he  had  himself  sanctioned. 
All  antecedent  public  acts, even  the  respect  I  then  entertained  for 
him,  forbade  me  to  suppose,  that  he  meant  to  anticipate  the  action 
of  congress,  evade  the  judiciary,  and  trample  on  the  law  itself. 
Thus,  1.  In  his  veto  message,  he  left  the  subject  of  the  United 
States  Bank  to  the  congress  of  1S33-4.  2.  When,  during  the  last 
congress,  he  doubted  the  safety  of  the  public  deposites  In  the 
United  States  Bank,  instead  of  taking  upon  himself  the  respon- 
sibility of  their  removal,  he  appealed  to  congress.  3.  His  per- 
sonal and  political  friend  was  appointed  to  inquire  into  the  con- 
dition of  the  bank,  and  on  his  report,  the  representatives  of  the 
people,  by  a  vote  of  109  to  46,  directed  the  public  money  to  be 
retained,  where  the  law  had  placed  it.  4.  It  is  fair  to  infer  that 
the  President  himself  was  satisfied  with  this  decision  ;  for  he 
soon  after  approved  of  an  act  of  congress,  authorising  the  secre- 
tary of  the  treasury  to  lend  to  the  United  States  Bank,  or  upon 
its  stock,  several  millions  of  dollars,  trust  money  receivable  from 
France,  for  American  citizens  having  claims  upon  that  country. 

Had  I  intuitive  or  prophetic  skill  ?  Because  banks  and  specu- 
lators continued  to  agitate  the  deposite  question,  notwithstanding 
the  decision  of  congress,  was  I  to  suppose,  that  the  President 
would  become  their  prey?  Could  I  suspect,  that  they  would  be 
able  to  persuade  him  to  consider  congress  corruptible,  and  the 
judiciary  already  contaminated  ?  Is  it  credible  that  I,  who  sought 
to  avoid  office  altogether,  wilfully  placed  myself  in  sucli  a  posi- 
tion, that  my  removal  by  the  President  for  disobeying,  or  my 
rejection  by  the  senate  for  obeying,  him,  would  have  been  in- 
evitable? 

When  he  thought  proper  to  ask  the  written  opinions  of  the 
members  of  the  cabinet,  upon  whom  no  responsibility  would 
rest;  was  it  not  due  to  me,  then  shortly  to  enter  his  cabinet,  that 
he  should  have  frankly  informed  me  that  the  removal  of  the  de- 
posites, before  the  meeting  of  the  next  congress,  was  definitively 
fixed  upon,  and  that  I  shonld  be  expected  to  do  the  act?  Never- 
theless, I  had  no  sort  of  intimation  that  the  opinions  of  the 
members  of  the  cabinet  had  been  asked,  or  that,  whether  I  ap- 
proved of  it  or  not,  the  task  of  removing  the  deposites  would  be 
imposed  upon  me  without  inquiry  by  congress. 


(     14     ) 


When  I  entered  upon  my  official  duties,  and  found,  much  to 
my  surprise,  that  the  measure  was  determined  upon,  and  that  I 
would  be  expected  to  carry  it  into  execution,  my  charitable  con- 
clusion was,  that,  as  I  really  accorded  with  the  President  in  op- 
posing the  United  States  Bank,  he  had  no  doubt  of  my  readiness 
to  act  on  this  point  with  him.  He  fancied,  perhaps,  that  my  hos- 
tility was  so  unqualified,  that  I  would  be  willing  to  assail  that 
institution  after  the  manner  of  Indian  warfare,  and  it  was  on  this 
point  that  all  our  difficulties  arose. 

When  I  went  into  office,  I  supposed  that  1  was  to  be  the  agent 
of  the  country,  and  not  the  mere  instrument  of  the  Chief  Magis- 
trate. I  contemplated  some  changes  which  I  hoped  would  be  be- 
neficial to  the  country,  and  felt  indignant  when  I  found  that 
measures  were  to  be  pressed  upon  me,  useful  only  to  those  who 
prey  upon  its  vitals;  an  indignation,  which,  I  confess,  was  in- 
creased by  the  circumstance,  that  the  duty  prepared  for  me  was 
announced,  not  by  those  who  had  been  selected  by  the  President 
as  most  worthy  to  be  his  constitutional  advisers,  but  by  irrespon- 
sible persons,  who  possessed  the  confidence,  if  not  the  places, 
properly  belonging  to  them. 

I  wish  that  it  may  be  here  borne  in  mind,  that, 

notwithstanding  the  occurrences  connected  with  my  removal 
from  office,  I  actually  desired  to  avoid  even  complaint.  I  regard- 
ed the  President  as  the  victim  of  unworthy  influences  and  un- 
happy passions ;  and  therefore,  as  well  as  on  the  public  account, 
I  was  desirous  of  preventing  any  angry  public  discussion,  or  any 
exhibition  of  my  official  relations  with  the  President.  To  this 
end  I  wrote  a  letter  to  the  President's  secretary,  on  the  27th  of 
September,  complaining  of  the  course  of  the  official  paper  in  re- 
lation to  me.  In  this  letter,  I  say,  "I  do  not  deprecate  such  a 
course  for  my  own  sake ;  if  it  is  desirable  that  our  relations  should 
be  placed  before  the  public  eye,  I  am  ready.  But  it  seems  to  me 
that,  in  such  conflicts,  the  public  reputation  suflers,  and  that  in- 
jury and  insult  have  been  administered  to  me  in  such  quantity 
as  to  demand  no  further  aid  of  that  kind,"  &c.  Nothwithstand- 
ing  this  appeal,  it  will  be  found,  on  reference  to  the  file  of  the  of- 
ficial paper,  that  vile  insinuations  were  subsequently  made  re- 
specting my  motives  for  resisting  the  President.  Yet  out  of  re- 
.spect  for  our  institutions  I  forbore  to  repel  imputations  upon  my 
character  for  nearly  five  months ;  and  if  I  shall  now  mention  any 
facts,  which,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  it  might  be  improper 


(     15     ) 

to  state,  I  hope  it  will  be  remembered,  that  1  do  so,  nut  under 
the  influence  of  resentment,  but  in  self-defence.  Parts  of  my 
correspondence  and  conversations  have  been  used,  in  order  to  in- 
fuse foul  suspicions  respecting  nie;  and  I  now  barely  show  that 
I  am  not  the  only  accused  or  suspected  person ;  but  that  I  share 
the  fate  of  all  who  will  not  sacrifice  their  principles,  not  at  the 
feet  of  the  President,  but  at  those  of  men  who  govern  the  coun- 
try through  the  instrumentality  of  his  passions  and  prejudices. 

My  commission  bore  the  date  of  May  29,  1833, 

and  on  the  30th  I  reached  Washington.    After  waiting  upon  the 
President,  on  the  next  day,  I  went  to  the  treasury  department, 
and  took  the  oath  of  office  on  the  1st  of  June.    On  the  evening 
of  that  day,  Mr.  Reuben  M.  Whitney  called  upon  me  at  my 
lodgings,  at  the  desire,  as  he  said,  of  the  President,  to  make 
known  to  me  what  had  been  done,  and  what  was  contemplated,  in 
relation  to  the  United  States  Bank.  He  stated,  that  the  President 
had  concluded  to  take  upon  himself  the  responsibility  of  direct- 
ing the  secretary  of  the  treasury  to  remove  the  public  deposites 
from  that  bank,  and  to  transfer  them  to  state  banks;  that  he  had 
asked  the  members  of  the  cabinet  to  give  him  their  opinions  on 
the  subject;  that  the  President  had  said,  "  Mr.  Taney  and  Mr. 
Barry  had  come  out  like  men  for  the  removal ;"  that  Mr.  M'Lane 
had  given  a  long  opinion  against  it;  that  jNIr.  Cass  was  supposed 
to  be  against  it,  but  had  given  no  written  opinion;  and  that  Mr. 
Woodbury*  had  given  an  opinion  which  was  "yes"  and  "no;" 
that  the  President  would  make  the  act  his  own  by  addressing  a 
paper  or  order  to  the  secretary  of  the  treasury ;  that  JMr.  Amos 
Kendall,  who  was  high  in  the  President's  confidence,  was  now 
preparing  that  paper;  that  there  had  been  delay  owing  to  the 
affair  at  Alexandria;  but,  no  doubt,  the  President  would  soon 
speak  to  me  on  the  subject ;  tiiat  the  paper  referred  to,  would  be 
put  forth  as  the  Proclamation  had  been,  and  would  be  made  a 
rallying  point;  that  he  (Mr.  Whitney)  had,  at  the  desire  of  the 
President,  drawn  up  a  memoir  or  exposition,  showing  that  the 
measure  might  be  safely  adopted,  and  that  the  state  banks  would 
be  fully  adequate  to  all  the  purposes  of  government.    He  then 
read  the  exposition  to  me,  antl  as  I  desired  to  understand  mat- 
ters so  important  and  so  singularly  presented,  I  asked  him  to 

•  It  is  due  to  this  gentleman  to  state,  that  1  subsequently  learned,  he  was  op- 
posed  to  a  removal  prior  to  July,  1834,  and  was  for  only  a  gradual  cliaiigc  aflei-- 
wards. 


(     16     ) 

leave  the  paper  with  me,  which  he  accordingly  did.  He  also 
read  to  me  divers  letters  from  individuals  connected  with  state 
banks.  The  drift  of  his  further  observations  was  to  satisfy  me 
that  the  executive  arm  alone  could  be  relied  on  to  prevent  a  re- 
newal of  the  United  States  Bank  charter. 

The  communication  thus  made  to  me  created  surprise  and  mor- 
tification. I  was  surprised  at  the  position  of  affairs  which  it  re- 
vealed, and  mortified  at  the  low  estimate  which  had  been  formed 
of  the  independence  of  my  character.  I  listened,  however,  re- 
spectfully to  one  who  gave  such  evidence  of  the  confidence  re- 
posed in  him,  and  awaited  the  explanation  which  he  intimated 
the  President  would  give. 

Soon  after  this  interview  I  took  occasion  to  express  my  mor- 
tification at  my  position,  to  the  member  of  the  cabinet,  who  had 
represented  the  President  in  asking  me  to  accept  office. 

On  the  next  evening  (Sunday)  Mr.  Whitney  again  called  on 
me  in  company  with  a  stranger,  whom  he  introduced  as  Mr. 
Amos  Kendall,  a  gentleman  in  the  President's  confidence,  who 
would  give  me  any  further  explanations  that  I  might  desire,  as  to 
what  was  meditated  in  relation  to  the  United  States  Bank,  and 
who  then  called  on  me  because  he  was  about  to  proceed  forthwith 
to  Baltimore.  I  did  not  invite  nor  check  communication.  Very 
little  was  said,  and  perhaps  because  I  could  not  wholly  conceal 
my  mortification  at  an  attempt,  apparently  made  with  the  sanction 
of  the  President,  to  reduce  me  to  a  mere  cypher  in  the  adminis- 
tration. 

The  next  morning,  June  3d,  I  waited  upon  the  President,  and, 
as  I  had  been  apprized  by  Mr.  Whitney  would  be  the  case,  he 
soon  introduced  the  subject  of  the  bank.  I  stated  that  Mr.  Whit- 
ney had  made  known  to  me  what  had  been  done,  and  what  was 
intended,  and  had  intimated  that  his  communication  was  made 
at  the  President's  desire.  The  President  replied,  in  a  tone  of 
dissatisfaction,  that  it  was  true  he  had  conferred  with  Mr.  Whit- 
ney, and  obtained  information  from  him  as  to  the  bank,  but  that  he 
did  not  make  him  his  confidant,  nor  had  he  told  him  to  call  on  me. 
I  enumerated  the  representations  which  Mr.  Whitney  had  made, 
and  their  correctness  was  admitted.  I  said  I  feared  that  I  should 
not  be  able  to  see  the  subject  in  the  light  in  which  the  President 
viewed  it;  to  which  he  remarked  that  he  liked  frankness,  that 
my  predecessor  and  himself  had  sometimes  differed  in  opinion, 
but  it  had  made  no  difference  in  feeling,  and  should  not  in  my 


(     17     ) 

case ;  that  the  matter  under  consideration  was  of  vast  consequence 
to  the  country ;  that  unless  the  bank  was  broken  down,  it  would 
break  us  down ;  that  if  the  last  congress  had  remained  a  week 
longer  in  session,  two-thirds  would  have  been  secured  for  the  bank 
by  corrupt  means  ;  and  that  the  like  result  might  be  apprehended 
at  the  next  congress;  that  such  a  state  bank  agency  must  be  put 
in  operation,  before  the  meeting  of  congress,  as  would  show  that 
the  United  States  Bank  was  not  necessary,  and  thus  some  mem- 
bers would  have  no  excuse  for  voting  for  it.  My  suggestions  as 
to  an  inquiry  by  congress,  as  in  December,  1832,  or  a  recourse 
to  the  judiciary,  the  President  repelled,  saying  it  would  be  idle 
to  rely  upon  either;  referring,  as  to  the  judiciary,  to  decisions 
already  made,  as  indications  of  what  would  be  the  effect  of  an 
appeal  to  tliem  in  future.  After  mentioning,  that  he  would  speak 
to  me  again,  before  he  departed  for  the  eastward,  he  said  he  meant 
to  take  the  opinions  of  the  members  of  the  cabinet  with  him, 
but  would  send  them  to  me  from  New  York,  together  with  his 
vieivSf  and  would  expect  me,  on  his  return,  to  give  him  my  sen- 
timents frankly  and  fully. 

On  the  5th  of  June,  I  had  a  brief  conversation  with  the  Presi- 
dent, in  the  course  of  which,  as  at  all  other  times,  I  do  him  the 
justice  to  say,  he  emphatically  declared  that  his  views  were  al- 
together public  spirited.  He  concluded  by  saying,  "remember, 
I  do  not  wish  any  body  to  conceal  his  sentiments ;  I  give  you  my 
views,  you  give  yours;  all  I  ask  is  that  you  will  reflect  with  a 
view  to  the  public  good." 

The  President  left  Washington  on  the  6th  of  June.  During 
his  absence,  further  circumstances  came  to  my  knowledge,  which 
induced  me  to  believe,  that  the  removal  of  the  dcposites  was 
not  advocated  with  any  view  to  public  utility,  but  urged  to  ac- 
complish selfish,  if  not  factious  purposes.  1  sought  no  inter- 
course with  those,  who,  I  felt  satisfied,  had  an  undue  influence 
over  the  President,  at  least  in  relation  to  the  grave  questions 
connected  with  the  removal  of  the  deposites.  Whenever  any  of 
them  called  on  me,  there  was  no  hesitation  in  urging  me  to  ac- 
cord in  the  proposed  measure.  It  was  contended  that  the  re- 
moval of  the  depositcs  would  be  made  a  rallying  point  at  the 
opening  of  congress,  or  a  flag  up  for  the  new  members.  When- 
ever I  urged  a  recourse,  in  the  first  instance,  to  congress,  or  the 
judiciary,  such  a  step  was  scouted,  and  delay  represented  as  ha- 
zardous. 


(     18     ) 

I  had  heard  rumours  of  the  existence  of  an  influence  at  Wash- 
ington, unknown  to  the  constitution.  The  conviction,  that  such 
an  influence  existed,  at  least  in  relation  to  the  matters  then  press- 
ed upon  me,  was  irresistible.  I  knew  that  four  of  the  six  mem- 
bers of  the  cabinet,  before  I  became  a  member  of  it,  had  been 
opposed  to  any  present  action  in  relation  to  the  deposites  ;  and  I 
also  knew  that  four  of  the  six  members  of  the  existing  cabinet 
entertained  the  same  views.  I  felt  satisfied,  not  only  that  the 
President  was  not  in  the  hands  of  his  constitutional  advisers ;  but 
that  their  advice  was  successfully  resisted  by  persons,  whose 
views  I  considered  at  variance  with  the  public  interest,  and  the 
President's  fame. 

Such  were  my  impressions,  when,  on  the  1st  of  July,  I  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  the  President,  dated  ''Boston,  June  26th, 
1833,"  together  with  his  vieivs,  and  the  opinio7is  of  four  of  the 
members  of  the  cabinet,  voluminous  papers,  in  the  examination 
of  which  I  was  engaged  when  the  President  unexpectedly  re- 
turned to  Washington  on  the  4th  of  July. 

In  the  views  given  by  the  President,  he  expressed  his  opinion, 
that  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  would  be  wisely  exercising  the 
discretion  conferred  upon  him  by  law,  by  directing  the  deposites 
to  be  made  in  the  state  banks,  from  and  after  the  15th  of  Sep- 
tember, if  arrangements  to  be  made  with  them  should  be  then 
completed. 

In  his  letter,  he  stated  that  the  only  difficulty  he  for  some  time 
had,  was  as  to  the  time  when  the  change  should  commence  ;  that 
he  thought  the  time  should  be  from  the  1st  to  the  15th  of  Sep- 
tember ;  that  an  agent  should  be  sent  to  consult  with  state  banks 
upon  the  practicability  of  an  arrangement  such  as  the  President 
then  proceeded  to  detail ;  but  that  he  did  not  contemplate  a  re- 
moval of  funds  deposited,  unless  when  wanted  for  public  pur- 
poses. The  letter  closed  with  this  emphatic  assurance  : — 

*'  In  making  to  you,  my  dear  sir,  this  frank  and  explicit  avow- 
al of  my  opinions  and  feelings,  it  is  not  my  intention  to  interfere 
with  the  independent  exercise  of  the  discretion  committed  to  you 
by  law  over  the  subject.  I  have  thought  it  however  due  to  you, 
under  the  circumstances,  to  place  before  you,  with  this  restric- 
tion, my  sentiments  upon  the  subject;  to  the  end  that  you  may, 
on  my  responsibility,  allow  them  to  enter  into  your  decision 
upon  the  subject,  and  into  any  future  exposition  of  it,  so  far  as 
you  may  deem  it  proper. " 


(*- 


(     19     ) 

Prior  to  the  reception  of  these  communications,  I  had  felt  em- 
barrassment, not  only  in  relation  to  the  general  subject,  but  as  to 
constitutional  and  legal  questions.  I  was  in  doubt  as  to  the  view 
which  the  President  would  take  of  the  16th  section  of  the  law, 
chartering  the  United  States  Bank,  which  gave  the  discretion, 
as  to  the  deposites,  to  the  secretary  of  the  treasury.  When,  how- 
ever, I  read  the  above  passage  in  his  letter,  my  anxiety  was  in  a 
great  measure,  if  not  wholly,  removed.  If  it  meant  any  thing, 
I  concluded,  that  the  President  now  confirmed,  what  the  law  had 
already  declared,  that  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  had  the  ex- 
clusive right  to  exercise  that  discretion  independently  of  the  Pre- 
sident; and  that  in  thus  writing  to  me,  he  had  pledged  himself 
not  to  interfere  beyond  the  expression  of  his  own  opinions,  and 
the  employment  of  argument  to  have  an  influence  upon  mine. 
Reflecting,  however,  upon  the  means  that  might  be  used  to  induce 
the  President  to  disregard  this  pledge,  I  considered  it  my  duty 
to  comply  strictly  with  his  direction,  to  give  him  my  sentiments 
frankly  and  fully  ;  and  these  you  will  find  in  my  next  letter. 

W.  J.  DUANE. 
Philadelphia,  February  22,  1834. 


LETTER  IV. 


Fellow-Citizens  ; 

In  my  last  letter  I  related  some  of  the  incidents,  which  oc- 
curred immediately  after  my  entrance  into  office.  Those  inci- 
dents will  have  shown  you,  that  the  true  nature  of  the  service 
required  of  me  was  to  employ  a  conservative  power  to  eflect 
penal  ends,  and  to  evade  legislative  or  judicial  action  in  relation 
to  the  United  States  Bank. 

Believing  as  I  did,  that  the  President  really  thought  that  the 
prostration  of  the  United  States  Bank  would  be  another  victory, 
of  which  he  might  be  proud,  and  that  he  was  stimulated  to  con- 
sider any  means  justifiable  to  attain  that  end ;  I  resolved  to  inter- 
pose, if  I  could,  between  him  and  tbosc  who  were  impelling  him 
in  his  rash  career.  I  was  especially  anxious  to  disabuse  him  as 
to  the  legislature  and  the  judiciary  ;  and,  therefore,  in  writing 
the  following  letter,  endeavoured  to  meet  his  oral  declarations, 
as  well  as  written  arguments. 


Vf 


*r.  (      20      ) 

In  my  defence  I  now  submit  this  letter  to  you.  Is  it  such  a 
letter  as  "an  emissary  of  the  bank"  would  have  written?  Does 
it  indicate  hostility  to  the  President;  or  a  desire  to  remain  in 
office  to  thwart  him?  Could  any  friend  struggle  more  anxiously 
than  I  did  to  snatch  him  from  the  brink  of  a  precipice?  Instead 
of  considering  my  resistance  favourable  to  the  bank,  I  felt  satis- 
fied that  the  President's  course  would  aid  it. 

Under  these  impressions,  as  an  act  of  duty  to  the  country  as 
well  as  to  the  President,  and,  I  confess,  dissatisfied  with  the  part 
I  was  expected  to  play,  I  wrote  the  following  letter. 

Respectfully,  yours, 

W.  J.  DUANE. 

February  25,  1834. 


"  Treasury  Department,  July  10,  1833. 
"  Sir— 

I.  On  the  first  of  the  present  month,  the  undersigned  had  the 
honour  to  receive  the  letter,  which  the  President  addressed  to 
him,  from  Boston,  on  the  26th  ultimo,  transmitting  a  detailed 
statement  of  his  views  <'  upon  the  subject  of  a  discontinuance  of 
the  government  deposites  in  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  substitution  of  certain  state  banks,  as  the  fiscal  agents  of  the 
United  States,  so  far  as  those  duties  are  now  performed  by  that 
institution." 

If,  when,  early  in  December  last,  the  desire  of  the  President 
that  the  undersigned  should  assume  the  station,  which  he  now 
holds,  was  communicated  to  him,  it  had  been  intimated,  that  a 
cessation  to  deposite  the  public  moneys  in  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  without  any  legislation  upon  the  subject,  was  to  constitute 
a  part  of  the  executive  policy,  and  that  the  undersigned  would 
be  called  upon  to  carry  the  measure  into  effect  upon  his  own  re- 
sponsibility, it  would  have  been  in  his  power  to  consider,  whether 
he  ought  to  enter  into  office  or  not;  and  he  would  not  have  been 
compelled,  as  he  now  is,  either  to  incur  the  censure  of  congress, 
or  to  commence  his  service  by  acting  in  opposition  to  the  Pre- 
sident's wishes.  But,  as  no  intimation  of  any  kind  was  given, 
and  as  the  undersigned  was  thus  to  come  into  office,  in  a  manner 
as  honourable  to  the  President's  liberality,  as  it  was  flattering  to 
his  own  pride,  he  accepted  the  proffered  honour,  but  still  not 
without  reluctance,  resolved  to  perform  his  duty  so  faithfully  as 


^     ^  .  f 

(     21     )  /  t* 

to  merit  public  confidence,  justify  the  President's  choice,  and 
preserve  that  invaluiiblc  treasure,  his  own  self-respect. 

If,  when,  on  the  30th  of  Jaiuiary  last,  the  undersigned  con- 
sented to  serve,  and  before  he  had  entered  on  the  duties  of  his 
station,  he  had  known  that  a  change  of  the  depository  of  the  pub- 
lic money,  notwithstanding  the  decision  of  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives, was  a  part  of  the  President's  policy,  and  very  anx- 
iously discussed  in  the  cabinet,  it  would  still  have  been  his 
pleasure,  as  well  as  duty,  to  consider  the  questions  involved, 
carefully.  But,  although  late  in  the  month  of  March,  the  Presi- 
dent intimated,  that  he  was  agitating  the  subject  himself,  the 
undersigned  had  no  conception,  that  it  was  with  a  view  to  any 
proceeding  prior  to  the  meeting  of  the  new  congress. 

It  was  not,  indeed,  until  the  evening  of  the  day,  or  of  the  day 
after,  the  undersigned  entered  into  office,  that  he  was  informed, 
that  a  change,  of  the  depository  of  the  public  money,  had  been  the 
subject  of  cabinet  discussion,  and  that  upon  the  undersigned 
would  rest  the  responsibility. 

It  will  not  surprise  the  President,  therefore,  to  learn  the  sen- 
timents of  the  undersigned  now  for  the  first  time ;  nor  that  he  may 
fail  to  present  such  an  exposition  of  his  views,  as,  under  different 
circumstances,  he  would  at  least  have  attempted  to  prepare- 
Subsequently  to  the  1st  of  June,  the  President  was  so  good  as  to 
say,  that  he  would  send  to  the  undersigned,  the  opinions  of  the 
members  of  his  cabinet,  with  his  own  views,  to  be  deliberately 
reflected  upon,  with  a  view  to  a  frank  declaration  of  the  opinions 
of  the  undersigned  to  the  President,  on  his  return  from  his  eastern 
tour.  Those  documents  were  received  on  the  1st  instant,  and  the 
President  returned  on  the  4th  ;  so  that  the  brevity  of  the  interval, 
and  other  circumstances  interfering,  will,  he  trusts,  be  regarded 
as  adequate  apologies  for  imperfection.  Whilst,  however,  he  re- 
grets the  imperfection,  he  is  consoled  with  the  knowledge,  that 
he  is  but  a  gleaner  in  the  field  of  inquiry,  after  officers,  superior 
to  the  undersigned  in  all  the  advantages  of  experience,  and  with 
whom  he  will  not  assert  an  equality,  except  in  purity  of  purpose, 
and  in  regard  for  the  chief  magistrate,  who  has  made  him  their 
associate. 

II.  In  the  conclusion  of  the  President's  letter,  he  has  the 
goodness  to  say,  that,  whilst  he  frankly  avows  his  own  opinions, 
and  feelings,  he  does  not  intend  to  interfere  with  the  indci)ondent 
exercise  of  the  discretion,  committed  to  the  undersigned  by  law, 


»  .;f 


(     22     )      • 


over  the  subject ;  and  that  the  undersigned  may  adopt,  on  the  Pre- 
sident's responsibility,  the  sentiments  expressed  by  him,  in  his 
letter,  as  the  basis  in  part  of  his  own  decision.  The  undersigned, 
therefore,  concludes,  that  he  has  not  received  the  direction  of  the 
chief  magistrate,  to  perform  an  act  of  executive  duty ;  but  that 
the  President  believes,  that  congress  had  a  right  to  direct,  and 
hold  responsible,  an  executive  agent.  And,  accordingly,  without 
expressing  a  doubt  on  that  point,  that  might  be  thought  pre- 
sumptuous, the  undersigned  will  decide  on  his  responsibility  to 
congress,  and  that  decision  shall  be  the  same,  as  if  he  had  re- 
ceived an  executive  order.  This,  however,  will  not,  for  a  mo- 
ment, be  regarded  by  the  President  as  indicative  of  the  least 
abbreviation  of  the  respect  and  attachment,  which,  on  many  ac- 
counts, he  entertains  for  the  President.  The  expression  is  used, 
in  order  to  evince  the  perfect  sincerity  of  the  undersigned  in  the 
matter  referred  to  him ;  it  is  used,  in  order  to  make  known  to 
the  President,  that,  however  grateful  to  him  the  undersigned 
may  be,  and  however  unwilling  to  incur  the  risk  of  separating 
from  him  so  soon,  a  separation  so  likely  to  expose  the  under- 
signed to  the  shafts  of  envy  or  of  malice,  if  such  exist,  such  con- 
siderations are  overcome  by  a  sense  of  the  high  duties  imposed 
on  him  as  a  public  agent. 

It  is  not  more  consistent  with  the  principles  of  the  undersign- 
ed to  pay  a  homage  to  the  President,  than  it  would  be  the  desire 
of  the  President  to  receive  it;  but  since  it  is  so  soon  his  fate  to 
diflfer  in  opinion  from  the  President,  the  undersigned  boldly  says, 
that  no  one  could  have  been  called  to  the  station,  now  filled  by 
him,  who  could  have  had  a  more  anxious  desire  than  the  under- 
signed had,  to  render  the  evening  of  the  President's  life  as  tran- 
quil, as  its  noon  had  been  glorious.  It  is  very  painful  to  him, 
therefore,  to  be  obliged  to  decline  to  adopt  the  course  described 
in  the  President's  letter.  He  has  the  consolation,  however,  that 
the  very  opposition  establishes  a  claim  to  the  President's  respect, 
and  is  a  sure  guarantee  of  sincerity. 

Trusting,  therefore,  to  that  magnanimity,  on  the  part  of  the 
President,  which  is  inseparable  from  the  purity  of  his  own  io- 
tentions,  the  undersigned  will  frankly  state  some  of  the  reasons, 
that  have  drawn  him  to  the  conclusion,  at  which  he  has  arrived. 
In  doing  so,  he  will  present  the  results  of  brief,  but  anxious,  re- 
flection, and  incidentally  such  observations  as  a  perusal  of  the 
President's  letter  demands. 


.      (     23     )  •• 

III.  With  regard  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  even  if 
the  undersigned  did  not  consider  it  unauthorized  by  the  consti- 
tution, he  avows  his  deliberate  and  unl)iassed  belief,  that  the  re- 
newal of  its  charter  would  be  inconsistent,  with  the  duration  of 
the  happiness  and  liberties  of  the  people.  These  sentiments  are 
not  formed  as  a  potter  moulds  his  clay,  to  suit  the  fashion  of  the 
times,  or  the  order  of  a  customer  ;  they  are  not  the  sentiments  of 
a  man,  who  has  a  latent  grief  to  assuage,  or  an  injury  \o  avenge; 
they  are  the  opinions  of  an  individual,  who,  although  bowing  to 
the  law,  as  every  good  citizen  should  do,  and  respecting  the 
opinions  of  others,  has  never  omitted  a  fair  occasion  to  utter  his 
dispassionate  belief,  in  opposition  not  only  to  the  present,  and 
to  the  former  Bank  of  the  United  States,  but  to  all  such  mono- 
polies. 

Without  any  desire,  therefore,  to  arraign  uncharitably  the 
motives  of  others,  the  undersigned  is  satisfied  that  many  of  the 
acts  of  the  bank,  that  are  complained  of,  do  but  justify  his  uni- 
form apprehension  of  such  institutions.  He  conceives  that  the 
bank  htis  forfeited  all  claims  to  favour,  and  that,  if  chartered, 
with  such  a  weight  of  complaint  against  it,  the  charter  might  al- 
most as  well  be  perpetual  as  limited.  _,' 

But,  whilst  these  are  the  sentiments  he  entertains,  and  whilst 
as  an  individual  he  might,  in  every  fair  way,  utter  and  publish, 
in  language  becoming  a  freeman,  his  strong  remonstrances  and 
upbraidings  at  the  3  per  cent,  transaction,  and  others;  he  does 
not  consider  it  proper,  as  a  public  officer,  to  pursue  any  other 
than  an  open,  decided,  and  authorised  course.  He  is  persuaded 
that  vindictive  justice  is  so  much  at  variance  with  the  best  feel- 
ings of  the  human  heart,  that  a  resort  to  a  measure  of  that  kind, 
would,  by  the  repugnance  that  it  would  create,  tend  to  merge 
the  more  essential  consideration  of  the  future  destinies  of  the 
country. 

At  present  the  bank  stands,  if  not  convicted,  arraigned  before 
the  country.  It  has  put  itself  in  the  wrong,  and  the  stockholders 
have  not  manifested  an  inclination  even  to  inquire  into  the  causes 
of  complaint  against  the  directors.  Public  opinion  is  unfavourable 
to  the  continuance  of  the  institution.  It  is  obviously  the  conviction 
of  dispassionate  men,  that  no  modification  can  control  an  institu- 
tion, that  has  the  elements  of  evil  in  its  composition  and  exist- 
ence. The  dictates  of  prudence  and  policy,  therefore,  demand,  that 


(     24     ) 

nothing  should  be  done  against  the  bank,  that  might  altogether 
conceal  justice  under  the  veil  of  sympathy. 

The  main  question  was  put  to  the  people  by  the  President, 
and  left  to  them,  in  such  terms,  and  in  such  forms,  as  to  absolve 
him  from  all  accountability.  In  this,  as  in  other  instances,  pos- 
terity will  do  justice  to  the  purity  of  his  purposes,  and  the  vigour 
of  his  acts.  And  there  is  no  occasion,  either  for  the  present  or 
the  future,  to  adopt  a  course  different  from  the  open  and  manly 
one  heretofore  pursued.  It  is  not  requisite,  in  order  fo  prevent  a 
renewal  of  legal  life,  to  resort  to  measures,  that  might  be  regard- 
ed as  extreme,  if  not  utterly  needless. 

IV.  The  undersigned  is  persuaded,  that  the  measure  would  be 
regarded  as  extreme  and  arbitrary,  for  these  reasons. 

1.  The  charter  is  the  law  of  the  land ;  it  is  a  contract,  that  can- 
not be  dissolved,  or  altered,  without  mutual  consent,  or  forfeited 
without  inquiry.  The  public  deposites  are  a  benefit  to  the  bank, 
for  which  it  has  paid  a  consideration,  and  their  continuance  is  a 
part  of  the  contract. 

Has  the  undersigned  a  right  to  rescind  this  contract?  It  is  cer- 
tainly true,  that  he  has  the  power  to  change  the  depository,  but 
he  is  bound  to  give  his  reasons.  What  reasons  can  the  undersigned 
give  ?  He  must  not  rely  on  the  reasons  of  others,  unless  he 
adopts  them  as  his  own :  he  must  be  satisfied,  that  the  measure 
is  sound  in  itself  and  defensible. 

If,  indeed,  there  were  not  other  tribunals,  before  which  acts 
involving  forfeiture  might  be  inquired  into,  and  acts  involving 
forfeiture  were  apparent,  there  might  be  some  apology  for  an 
exercise  of  extraordinary  power  by  an  individual.  But  if  there 
has  been  such  misconduct  in  the  corporation  as  warrants  a  forfeiture 
of  its  charter,  or  if  there  have  been  such  acts  done  by  the  direct- 
ors or  officers,  as  bring  them  within  the  penalties  of  the  act  of 
incorporation,  what  reasons  can  be  given,  for  visiting  the  sins  of 
the  officers  upon  the  stockholders,  without  a  trial  by  jury,  or 
other  judicial  proceeding?  How  could  the  undersigned  justify 
himself  before  congress,  even  if  his  opinions  were  sound,  in  declin- 
ing a  judicial  inquiry,  and  in  condemning  the  accused  unheard? 

If  the  President  is  satisfied,  that  there  has  been  misconduct, 
such  as  would  warrant  punishment  by  judicial  agency,  why  has 
it  not  been,  why  may  it  not  yet  be,  resorted  to  ?  But  if  no  such 
step  has  been  taken,  or  can  be  sustained,  how  can  the  undersigned 
justify  the  assumption  of  the  powers  of  jury,  judge,  and  cxecu- 


(      ''^5      ) 

tioner?  Is  he  to  punish  unheard,  at  his  own  pleasure,  and  without 
being  able  to  assi<^n  to  congress  reasons  for  such  an  arbitrary  act  ? 
Is  it  consistent  with  the  principles  of  justice,  or  the  genius  of  our 
institutions,  that  any  man  should  be  able  to  constitute  himself  a 
dictator,  in  matters  affecting  the  character  of  the  country,  the 
welfare  of  the  people,  and  the  fame  of  men,  who  are  entitled  at 
least  to  the  rights  of  felons  ? 

The  undersigned  has  been,  like  other  men,  under  excitement, 
in  relation  to  the  Bankof  the  United  States,anduponpublicgrounds 
has  been  desirous  to  see  its  existence  closed  ;  yet  he  would  not, 
under  excitement,  exercise  such  a  power  as  is  now  conferred  upon 
him;  much  less  will  he,  now  in  a  high  station,  and  under  the 
guidance  of  deliberate  reason,  do  any  act,  that  has  not  the  stamp 
of  manliness  upon  its  front.  He  does  not  think  that  the  end  jus- 
t'fies  the  means,  or  that  there  is  any  distinction  between  moral 
and  political  integrity.  No  doubt,  the  President  believes  the  pro- 
ceeding, under  consideration,  to  be  fair,  manly,  and  sound.  The 
undersigned  has  learned  not  to  say  dogmatically,  that  he  is  right, 
and  that  another  is  wrong.  It  is  sufficient  for  him,  that,  whilst 
he  sincerely  respects  the  sentiments  of  the  President,  the  under- 
signed cannot  at  his  pleasure  change  his  own  convictions,  or  pre- 
sent to  congress  reasons  for  an  act,  that  he  believes  to  be  arbitrary 
and  needless. 

It  is  true,  that  congress  gave  to  the  undersigned  the  right  to 
use  this  arbitrary  power  ;  but  for  what  purposes  ?  Surely  not  to 
enable  him  to  usurp  executive  or  judicial  authority.  It  is  the  right 
of  the  President  to  arraign,  and  the  riglil  of  the  judiciary  to  try, 
the  bank.  Upon  what  jjretext  can  the  undersigned  wrest  these 
powers  from  the  legitimate  organs?  Or  can  it  be  fancied,  that  con- 
gress transferred  to theundersigned, powers  not  possessed  bytlieni- 
selves?  What,  then,  is  the  fair  conclusion,  in  tlie  absence  of  all 
explanation,  as  to  the  motives  of  congress  ?  Surely,  that  dictato- 
rial power  was  conferred  on  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  for 
occasions  demanding  sudden  and  extreme  action,  or  as  a  salutary 
check  upon  the  bank,  or  a  means  to  promote  the  conclusion  of  its 
affairs.  It  never  could  have  been  conferreil  to  enable  an  individual, 
whose  appointment  has  not  yet  been  confirmed  by  the  constitu- 
tional advisers  of  the  President,  to  execute  vindictive  justice. 

Is  there,  then,  any  cause  for  sudden  and  extreme  action  ?  The 
undersigned  admits,  that  the  views  in  the  President's  letter,  are 
very  striking.  They  must,  when  presented  to  the  people,  or  their 

D 


(     26     ) 


represcMitatives,  have  a  powerful  influence  upon  the  question  of 
the  renewal  of  the  charter ;  but  he  does  not  believe  that  they 
warrant  the  undersigned  in  resorting  to  the  proposed  measure. 
It  must  be  a  very  strong  case,  indeed,  that  would  justify  the  nul- 
lification of  a  contract,  made  by  all  the  departments  of  govern- 
ment. 

2.  The  measure  would  be  considered  extreme  and  arbitrary, 
because  the  last  congress  acted  upon  complaints  against  the  bank, 
and  because  the  next  congress  may  follow  the  example  of  the  last. 
It  cannot  be  pretended,  that,  the  last  congress  doubted  the  ability 
of  the  bank  to  meet  its  engagements.  The  house  of  representatives, 
by  a  vote  109  to  46,  decided  that  the  bank  was  a  safe  place  of 
deposite  ;  and  one  of  the  last  acts  of  congress  authorised  the 
secretary  of  the  treasury  to  lend  a  million  of  dollars  to  the  bank 
without  security.  What  has  since  occurred,  that  should  warrant 
the  undersigned,  in  treating  these  evidences  of  confidence  with 
contempt  ?  What  reasons  could  the  undersigned  give  for  revers- 
ing the  judgment  of  those,  of  whom  he  is  the  mere  agent?  What 
has  occurred,  since  the  last  session  of  congress,  to  change  the 
ground  then  held  ?  If  any  thing  occurred,  prior  to  the  entry  of 
the  undersigned  into  office,  on  the  first  of  June,  why  was  not  his 
predecessor  called  upon  to  act  ?  And  if  nothing  occurred  prior  to 
that  time,  what  has  since  happened,  that  could  justify  the  under- 
signed, who  has  not  yet  become  acquainted  with  his  duties,  or 
been  above  forty  days  in  office,  in  exerting  powers,  affecting  not 
merely  the  bank,  but  the  whole  community?  Is  he  to  take  it  for 
granted  that  the  last  house  of  representatives  was  ignorant  or 
corrupt  ?  Or  is  he  to  conclude  that  there  has  been  fraud  or  mis- 
management on  the  part  of  the  bank  ?  He  does  not  pretend,  that 
an  adequate  investigation  was  made  by  the  last  house  of  represen- 
tatives, but  that  house  decided  on  the  evidence  produced.  It  was 
not  competent  for  any  agent  to  furnish  adequate  proofs.  The  mi- 
nority of  the  committee  of  investigation  declare,  that  a  full  and 
protracted  inquiry  by  congress  is  necessary  to  the  developement 
of  truth  ;  and  yet  it  is  expected  that  the  undersigned  shall  either 
have  faculties  superior  to  those  of  congress,  or  hardihood  that 
disregards  their  censure.  It  is  supposed,  that  although  a  body  with 
power  to  send  for  persons  and  papers  were  unable  to  come  to  a 
decision  unfavourable  to  the  bank,  or  even  to  express  a  disbe- 
lief of  its  safety  ;  the  undersigned,  without  any  such  inquiry  or 
power  to  inquire,  is  first  to  do  what  congress  would  not  do,  and 


INF 


(     27     ) 


then  refer  to  the  reasons  of  the  President  as  a  justification.  Such 
a  reference  would  not,  and  oufrhi  not  to,  answer  as  a  defence.  The 
undersigned  is  thrown  on  his  own  rciisons  ;  and  if  he  acts,  and  has 
none,  he  must  stand  in  a  posture  before  the  world,  not  more 
lionourable  to  the  President  than  grateful  to  himself.  It  would, 
in  these  malevolent  times,  be  said,  that  the  President  had  pur- 
chased the  conscience  of  the  undersigned,  and  that  the  undersign- 
ed had  basely  sold  for  office,  the  only  inheritance  that  he  may 
have  to  leave  to  his  children,  the  unblemished  integrity  of  their 
father. 

If  it  does  not  become  the  undersigned  to  treat  with  disrespect 
the  decision  of  the  last  congress,  why  should  he  refuse  to  await 
the  interference  of  the  next?  Any  proceeding  now,  especially  in 
the  absence  of  adequate  reasons,  would  seem  to  arise  from  an  ap- 
prehension, that  the  representatives  of  the  people  are  incompe- 
tent or  corruptible  ;  and  that  the  people  themselves  are  incapable 
of  preserving  the  institutions  of  their  country,  in  the  event  of  a 
general  depravity  of  their  agents.  The  undersigned  is  not  wil- 
ling, by  an  act  on  his  part,  to  give  sanction  to  heresies,  as 
groundless  in  themselves,  as  they  are  pernicious  in  their  tenden- 
cies. He  would  despair  of  all  that  is  calculated  to  cheer  and  ex- 
alt mankind,  if  he  could  fancy  that  his  act,  or  the  act  of  any 
man,  even  if  endowed  with  intellect,  or  crowned  with  glory,  were 
essentially  necessary  to  save  the  people  from  themselves.  He  can- 
not have  the  arrogance  to  think,  or  to  give  colour  of  conjecture 
that  he  thinks,  that  he  can  save  the  republic,  or  that  without  him 
it  would  be  lost.  It  is  his  duty,  on  the  contrary,  to  follow  the 
President's  own  example,  who,  instead  of  proceed  i  ng,  as  he  might 
have  done,  by  scire  facias,  against  the  bank,  waited  until  the 
representatives  of  the  people  assembled,  and  submitted  his  com- 
plaint to  them.  In  the  absence  of  peril,  the  undersigned,  does 
not  consider  it  his  duty  to  forestal  the  opinion  of  congress.  If 
there  is  just  ground  for  complaint,  it  is  consistent  with  our  love 
of  our  institutions,  and  our  jealousy  of  their  purity,  to  believe 
that  an  inquiry,  if  made,  will  be  fairly  conducted  ;  and  that  the 
representatives  of  the  people  will  act,  in  consonance  with  their 
duty  to  Heaven,  their  countr}*,  and  themselves. 

But  if,  contrary  to  the  lessons  of  experience,  the  representa- 
tives of  the  people,  should  be  faithless,  the  bare  suggestion  of 
which  the  undersigned  regrets  to  utter,  the  people  have  the  in- 
clination as  well  as  the  power  to  change  them,  and  to  annul  any 


(    -s 

act,  that  may  have  been  the  progeny  of  fraud  or  corruption.  Have 
they  not  the  inclination,  as  well  as  the  power?  If  not,  then 
the  boasted  excellence  of  our  institutions  must  be  a  phantom. 
But,  if  it  is  a  substance  and  not  a  shadow,  as  the  undersigned  thinks 
it  is,  it  does  not  become  him  at  least  to  decide  upon  a  supposed 
imperfection,  and  substitute  means,  justifiable  only  in  an  insur- 
rection or  a  siege. 

With  great  deference,  therefore,  for  the  President's  opinions, 
the  undersigned  concludes,  that  it  would  be  arbitrary  and  need- 
less to  adopt  the  proposed  measure  at  this  time. 

V.  But,  suppose,  that  the  undersigned  had  reasons,  to  submit 
to  congress,  to  show,  that  the  measure  was  not  arbitrary  or  need- 
less, ought  the  substitutes  for  the  present  fiscal  depository  to  be 
accepted  ?  The  undersigned  respectfully  conceives  that  he  has  not 
authority,  and  that  it  would  be  unwise,  to  adopt  th'?  scheme  pro- 
posed. Undoubtedly,  if  the  undersigned  were  to  cease  to  deposits 
the  public  money  in  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  it  would 
be  his  duty  to  direct  its  deposite  to  the  credit  of  the  treasurer, 
in  some  safe  place.  But,  at  the  threshold  he  is  met  with  the  ques- 
tion, what  would  be  a  safe  place  ?  Does  it  become  him  to  judge 
of  the  solidity  of  an  institution  by  hearsay  ?  But,  even  if  he  chose 
to  take  that  responsibility,  has  he  any  right  to  go  further?  The 
plan  suggested  by  the  President  proposes  a  contract  with  divers 
banks,  according  to  which  certain  service  is  to  be  rendered  by 
one  party,  for  the  privilege  of  trading  upon  the  money  of  the 
other.  Has  the  undersigned  authority  to  create  a  sort  of  charter? 
Has  he  a  right,  in  any  way,  or  for  any  time,  to  bind  the  United 
States?  Have  the  local  banks  any  right  to  bind  themselves?  If  they 
have,  what  is  the  security,  and  who  is  the  judge  of  it?  Has  the 
undersigned  a  right  to  contract,  that  certain  banks  may  contract 
with  other  banks  unknown  to  him?  Has  the  undersigned  any 
right,  or  is  it  discreet  to  leave  to  any  agent  the  right,  to  decide, 
in  the  course  of  two  months,  upon  the  condition  of  all  the  banks, 
that  may  be  necessary  for  the  operations  of  government?  If  there 
is  no  law,  granting  powers  needful  in  doubtful  cases,  can  the  un- 
dersigned discreetly  take  them  on  his  own  responsibility  ?  Can  it 
be,  for  one  moment,  fancied,  that,  beside  the  summary  power 
to  take  away,  the  legislative  power  to  authorise  a  disposition  of 
the  public  money,  was  conferred  upon  the  undersigned  ?  Is  it  to 
be  believed,  that  a  section  of  a  charter,  obviously  meant  for  ex- 
treme cases  only,  authorised  the  undersigned,  in  the  absence  of 


(  '^y  ) 

any  necessity,  to  take  the  public  money  from  a  hank,  over  which 
there  is  a  control,  and  distribute  it  amongst  institutions,  over 
which  no  control  exists?  The  ItJth  scrtion  of  the  United  States 
Bank  charter  directs,  that  the  public  Tiioney  shall  be  deposited 
in  that  institution,  unless  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  shall  di- 
rect otherwise  ;  but  so  jealous  were  congress  of  (he  power,  to 
withhold,  thus  conferred,  that  the  secretary  is  enjoined  to  give 
reasons  immediately  to  them  ;  obviously  showing,  that  congress 
considered  themselves  alone  competent  to  judge  of  the  nrcessity 
of  a  removal  from  one  agent,  and  the  propriety  of  the  sidisti- 
tute.  So  that  the  undersigned  deems  it  proper  to  use  extreme 
caution  on  ground  untrodden. 

The  undersigned  is  indeed  aware,  that  certain  local  banks  are 
now,  from  a  supposed  necessity,  used  as  fiscal  agents  ;  and  that 
several  of  his  predecessors,  as  an  act  of  ministerial  duty  or  sup- 
posed necessity,  at  various  times,  and  under  various  circum- 
stances, made  arrangements  with  state  banks  (the  particulars  of 
which  he  cannot  now  ascertain,  owing  to  the  destruction  of  the 
treasury  office);  but  he  also  knows,  that  under  those  arrange- 
ments, the  country  lost  between  one  and  two  millions  of  dollars, 
whilst  of  upwards  of  four  hundred  millions,  from  time  to  time 
in  the  custody  of  the  United  States  Bank,  not  one  cent  has  been 
lost.  The  undersigned  does  not  use  this  as  an  argument  in  favour 
of  a  renewal  of  the  charter,  to  which  he  is  opposed,  but  he  states 
the  facts,  to  show,  that  he  ought  to  have  very  strong  reasons, 
indeed,  to  present  to  congress,  for  exchanging  a  certainty  for  an 
uncertainty.  Me  repeats,  an  uncertainty  ;  for  if  one  of  his  prede- 
cessors was  justified  in  saying,  in  1814,  that  <'the  multiplication 
of  banks,  in  tlie  several  states,  has  so  increased  the  paper  cur- 
rency, that  it  would  be  difficult  to  calculate  its  amount,  and  still 
more  difficult  to  ascertain  its  value,"  how  much  more  doubt 
should  the  undersigned  entertain  at  the  present  day? 

Besides,  the  undersigned  plca-.ls  the  autliority  of  the  President 
himself,  in  the  letter  now  under  cunsideration,  as  ground  for 
hesitation.  The  President  does  not  pretend,  that  the  proposed 
scheme  will  answer;  he  barely  says  he  thinks  it  will.  No  doubt, 
he  thinks  so,  and  possibly  in  some  measure  upon  premises  jire- 
sented  by  local  institutions.  But  even  upon  such  representations 
the  President  does  not  rely  ;  for  he  does  not  suggest  a  p'an  for 
actual  or  continued  operation,  but  merely  as  an  experiment.  Has 
the  undersigned  the  right  to  make  experiments  upon  such  im- 


)     m- 


portant  matters?  Did  congress,  in  allowing  him  to  retain  out  of 
bank  the  public  money,  confer  on  him  legislative  and  executive 
power  united?  As  already  alluded  to,  the  anxious  care,  that  at 
once  the  undersigned  should  report  to  congress,  after  resolving 
to  retain  the  money  out  of  bank,  shows  that  it  was  not  meant  that 
the  undersigned  should  make  experiments.  As  it  is  clear,  there- 
fore, on  the  President's  own  view,  that  he  is  in  doubt  as  to  a 
substitute,  that  he  is  prepared  for  a  test  only,  and  as  the  power 
of  the  undersigned  will  end  on  his  report  to  congress,  can  it  sur- 
prise the  President,  that  the  undersigned  is  in  doubt  also?  If  an 
experiment  must  be  made,  is  it  not  courteous  to  those,  of  whom 
the  President  considers  the  undersigned  in  this  case  the  agent, 
to  await  their  instruction?  Have  not  the  constitutional  holders  of 
the  public  purse,  the  only  means,  that  can  be  safely  used  for  mak- 
ing such  trials? 

But  if  congress  should  not  interrupt  an  experiment,  and  the 
experiment  should  fail,  as  the  undersigned  thinks  it  would,  is  he 
then  to  make  another?  Will  not  a  failure  of  any  precipitate,  undi- 
gested, and  unsanctioned  scheme,  give  vigour  to  the  claim  of  the 
United  States  Bank  for  a  renewal  of  its  charter?  Will  it  not  be 
urged,  that  the  inadequacy  of  the  President's  own  project  proved 
the  necessity  of  retaining  an  organ,  that,  for  fiscal  purposes,  had 
such  obvious  advantages  over  local  banks?  The  President,  be- 
sides, seems  to  think,  that  time  will  be  necessary  to  test  the  pro- 
ject, and  desires  that  the  trial  may  be  made,  so  as  to  meet  the 
dissolution  of  the  United  States  Bank.  This  rests  on  the  pre- 
sumption that  congress  will  not  interfere,  whereas  the  under- 
signed believes,  that  the  operations  will  have  scarcely  been  com- 
menced, ere  the  apparatus  will  be  demolished ;  an  occurrence, 
which,  for  the  sake  of  the  President  as  well  as  himself,  the  un- 
dersig-ned  desires  not  to  witness. 

Then,  is  it  likely  that  banks  of  any  solidity  will  embark  in 
such  a  project,  when  they  know  that  it  may,  and  probably  will, 
be  arrested  by  congress?  Is  there  the  least  reason  to  suppose,  that 
banks  of  good  standing  will  guarantee  the  acts  of  banks  in  remote 
parts  of  the  Union  ?  Would  the  undersigned  be  prudent  in  allying 
the  country  with  banks  willing  to  make  such  a  common  cause? 
So  great  were  the  difficulties  of  the  Bank  of  Pennsylvania,  and  so 
great  were  the  losses,  arising  out  of  transactions  with  distant 
banks,  after  the  dissolution  of  the  old  bank  of  the  United  States, 
that  it  declined  to  be  accountable  to  the  Union  for  the  public  mo- 


31      ) 

ney  placed  in  those  bantiC  Does  not  the  President  see,  that, 
however  selfish  the  United  States  Bank  may  be,  the  local  banks 
have  not  more  extended  principles  of  action  ?  Will  not  the  anxiety 
to  make  money,  the  ignorance,  or  the  imprudence  of,  particularly 
remote,  local  banks,  tempt  them  so  to  extend  their  loans,  and  trade 
upon  the  public  money,  that  when  that  money  shall  be  called  for, 
they  may  either  fail  to  pay  it,  or  ruin  their  debtors  by  demanding 
its  return?  Upon  whom  would  reproach,  in  such  events,  be  cast? 
Not  on  the  banks,  but  on  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  as  an  op- 
pressive, perhaps  a  party,  measure.  It  is  manifest  that  the  welfare 
of  the  people  demands,  that,  instead  of  being  a  partner  of  cither, 
tliey  should  be  independent  of  both  United  States  and  local 
banks. 

VI.  If  the  President  knew,  certainly,  that  the  United  States 
Bank  charter  would  not  be  extended,  would  he  advise  a  change 
of  the  depository  of  the  public  money  ?  Would  he  urge  the  under- 
signed to  execute  articles  of  co-partnership  between  the  good 
people  of  the  United  States  and  divers  banking  companies,  that 
may  be  very  well  conducted;  but  whose  solvency  materially  de- 
pends on  the  solvency  of  each  other,  and  the  solvency  of  the 
whole  upon  events  beyond  the  control  of  any  or  of  all  ?  As  the 
corporators,  who  have  so  long  enjoyed  a  profitable  part  of  the 
sovereign  power,  who  have  had  the  opportunity  to  amass  fortune, 
and  who  have  not  been  free  from  abuses  to  which  monopolies 
are  liable,  are  soon  to  cease  in  their  operations ;  does  it  not  become 
the  duty  of  the  representatives  of  the  people,  whose  lives,  liber- 
ties, and  happiness  are  more  or  less  affected  by  those  institutions, 
to  consider,  whether  the  fiscal  operations  of  the  government  may 
not  be  conducted  without  such  agency  ?  Could  the  inquiry  be  made 
at  a  more  propitious  time?  Is  it  wise  to  make  entangling  alliances 
either  with  an  institution  not  authorized  by  the  constitution  of 
the  United  States,  or  with  loose  corporations,  which  interfere 
with,  derange,  depreciate,  and  banish  the  only  currency  known 
to  the  constitution,  that  of  gold  and  silver?  Is  it  not  inconsistent 
with  the  dignity  of  the  government,  to  be  obliged  to  grant  fa- 
vours or  exclusive  privileges  to  particular  descriptions  of  per- 
sons, that  would  not  be  otherwise  granted,  merely  to  secure  a 
free  and  safe  receipt  and  disbursement  of  the  public  Income  and 
expenditure?  Is  it  consistent  with  the  public  spirit  and  intelli- 
gence of  the  representatives  of  the  people  to  suppose,  that  they 
cannot  devise  a  method  to  escape  such  thraldom?    But,  if,  in  the 


(     3^     ) 

wisdom  of  congress,  no  such  mode  can  be  found,  as  will  enable 
the  government  to  conduct  its  fiscal  operations  without  the  aid 
of  a  bank;  then  it  is  respectfully  suggested,  whether  some  con- 
stitutional provision  should  not  be  made,  to  ensure  all  the  good, 
with  as  little  as  possible  of  the  evil,  of  a  bank. 

Although  the  undersigned  limits  the  inquiry  to  the  mere  want 
of  the  government,  it  is  not  because  he  thinks  this  the  only 
question  worthy  of  consideration.  On  the  contrary,  an  inquiry 
into  the  state  of  the  entire  currency,  if  not  now  demanded,  must 
soon  be  required.  But  it  is  not  to  the  agents  of  banks,  that  resort 
may  be  safely  had,  in  inquiries  of  this  nature.  Good  and  useful 
as  those  agents  may  be,  and  no  doubt  are,  in  all  the  private  re- 
lations of  life,  they  are  not  so  free  from  bias,  as  voluntarily  to 
develope  the  nature  and  results  of  their  own  operations.  The  la- 
boratory of  the  people  is  preferable,  their  representatives  the 
manipulators. 

The  inquiry,  that  must,  at  last,  be  made,  and  for  which  pre- 
paration may  be  necessary,  is  not,  which,  of  two  descriptions  of 
monopolies  alike  at  variance  with  the  sovereign  attributes  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  general  good  of  the  people,  is  the  least 
pernicious;  but  how  their  abuses,  and  the  consequences  of  those 
abuses,  may  be  gradually  corrected  and  averted.  Such  a  scrutiny 
would  be  worthy  of  the  wisdom  of  congress.  It  might  be  so  con- 
ducted as  not  to  affect  injuriously,  by  its  results,  any  interest ; 
and  an  opportunity  might  be  presented  to  th^  Union  and  the 
states,  gradually  to  limit,  or  remove,  institutions,  which,  whilst 
they  have  some  uses,  are  yet  so  partial  in  their  operations,  and 
so  liable  to  be  perverted,  as  to  affect  seriously  the  morals,  im- 
pair the  earnings,  and  endanger  the  liberties  of  the  people. 

Those  institutions  are  now  so  powerful,  and  have  such  a  com- 
mon interest ;  men  in  companies  arc  so  prone  to  do,  what  as  in- 
dividuals they  would  scarcely  think  of,  that  any  change  affecting 
them  will  be  stoutly  resisted.  Can  they  be  resisted  at  all,  if  their 
power  shall  have  no  check  ere  long?  Or  is  the  evil  only  to  be 
remedied,  by  one  of  those  convulsions,  in  which,  as  in  war,  the 
ruin  usually  falls  on  those,  who  ought  to  escape? 

But  if  there  is  any  illusion  in  this  suggestion  of  a  general  in- 
quiry, at  least  there  can  be  none  in  the  particular  or  preliminary 
inquiry  Hrst  suggested.  The  fiscal  operations  of  the  government 
should  be  safely,  steadily,  and  speedily  conducted.  How  shall 
they  be  so  conducted?  what  shall  be  the  machinery?  who  the 


(     33     )  I 

agents?  the  undersigned,  in  the  voice  of  experience,  cannot  err 
in  saying,  that  local  banks  are  not  the  best. 

Vir.  Supposing,  that  in  adopting  the  proposed  measure,  the 
faith  of  the  country  would  not  be  violated ;  that  contempt  to  the 
last,  and  the  next  congress  would  not  be  evinced  ;  that  the  power 
to  contract  with  state  banks  exists;  and  that  it  would  not  be  un- 
wise to  make  the  contract;  still  the  question  presents  itself,  what 
would  be  the  effect  upon  society?  Would  the  operations  of  the 
government,  or  of  the  commercial  world,  be  facilitated?  Would 
confidence  between  man  and  man  be  promoted?  Would  the  fa- 
cility to  stand  a  shock,  in  the  event  of  a  war  in  Europe,  for  in- 
stance, be  given  to  the  local  banks  ? 

These  questions,  and  others  of  an  analogous  character,  need 
not  be  discussed  by  the  undersigned  ;  for,  his  predecessor,  on  all 
accounts  so  much  more  competent  to  advise  the  President  than 
he  is,  has  placed  this  part  of  the  subject  especially,  in  a  point  of 
view,  that  cannot,  he  respectfully  thinks,  be  overlooked  by  a 
chief  magistrate,  so  anxious  as  the  President  has  proved  himself 
to  be,  to  protect  the  mass  of  the  community  from  embarrassment. 
From  want  of  experience  or  information,  the  undersigned  may 
not  anticipate  evil  so  extensive  as  that  apprehended  by  his  pre- 
decessor; but  his  fears  are  still  so  strong,  that  he  is  quite  unwil- 
ling to  be  the  one,  who  is  to  put  the  match  to  a  train,  the  end 
of  which  he  has  not  the  sagacity  to  discern. 

Even,  if  he  doubted,  whether  the  United  States  Bank  could 
meet  every  demand  of  government,  as  made  upon  it,  he  would 
hesitate,  whether  it  would  not  be  his  duty  to  forbear,  rather  than 
to  increase  the  evil,  by  abridging  the  power  of  the  bank  to  sur- 
mount its  difBculties.  So  that  in  the  absence  of  all  doubt  of  the 
kind,  the  undersigned  would  be  at  a  loss  for  an  excuse,  were  he 
to  produce,  by  an  act  on  his  part,  the  very  mischief  that  is  ap- 
prehended. Credit,  like  female  fame,  is  of  such  a  peculiar  nature, 
that  its  blossoms  may  be  blighted  even  by  the  breath  of  inquiry ; 
what  then,  might  not  be  the  consequence  of  the  blast  of  the  in- 
dignation of  government  against  an  agent,  in  whose  interest  it 
was  itself  so  deeplv  concerned  ?  Much  more  trivial  changes,  than 
that  proposed  by  the  President,  have  produced  great  commercial 
convulsions.  Such  a  measure,  as  is  urged,  would  be  regarded  by 
the  bank,  so  decidedly  hostile,  as  to  aflbrd  it  an  excuse  to  shake 
the  fabric  of  credit,  for  the  purpose  of  throwing  odium  on  the 
government,  and  producing  a  persuasion,  that  in  the  extension 

E 


of  the  charter  would  be  found  the  only  remedy  for  the  mischief. 
That  it  would  not  hesitate  to  do  so,  the  President  believes — that 
it  ought  not  to  have  an  excuse  for  doing  so,  the  undersigned  is 
certain. 

It  is,  indeed,  mentioned,  in  the  letter  of  the  President,  that  the 
United  States  Bank  will  not  be  able  to  effect  any  such  purpose. 
But  the  undersigned  is  not  satisfied,  that  an  institution  with  so 
large  a  capital,  with  branches  at  so  many  important  points,  act- 
ing with  one  accord,  and  for  a  single  end,  with  specie  equal  to 
half  its  circulation,  has  it  not  in  its  power  to  affect  the  operations 
of  local  banks,  with  specie  equal  to  about  a  sixth  of  their  circu- 
lation only.  If  the  bank  is  really  so  harmless  as  this  part  of  the 
President's  letter  supposes,  then  the  alarm  that  the  undersigned 
has  at  all  times  entertained,  at  the  existence  of  such  a  power,  is 
unfounded,  and  one  of  the  most  serious  objections  to  the  renewal 
of  the  charter  is  obviated.  But  the  undersigned  is  not  able  to  ar- 
rive at  such  a  conclusion  ;  he  is  convinced,  that  it  is  in  the  power 
of  the  United  States  Bank,  so  organized  and  so  secured,  griev- 
ously to  affect  the  local  banks  and  the  community ;  the  under- 
signed thinks  that  the  trial  ought  not  to  be  made. 

Beyond  doubt,  the  power  of  the  United  States  Bank  to  control 
the  local  banks,  and,  through  them,  masses  of  the  people,  and 
through  those  masses,  some  of  the  constituted  authorities  of  the 
country,  is  of  such  a  character  and  tendency,  as  to  excite  alarm. 
But  the  very  existence  of  such  a  power  teaches  extreme  caution  ; 
such  an  adversary  should  gain  no  advantage  from  an  abortive  ex- 
periment to  limit  its  influence. 

The  struggle  to  be  made,  is  not  to  see,  which  can  do  the  other 
the  most  harm,  the  government  or  the  bank.  The  government 
has  but  one  duty  to  execute,  to  inform  the  people  and  their  re- 
presentatives of  the  apprehended  danger.  It  is  not  called  upon  to 
maim  the  bank,  lest  the  bank  should  master  the  country.  In  any 
attempt  to  maim,  the  agents  of  the  bank  would  be  those  most 
likely  to  escape,  the  wound  would  be  felt  in  the  cottage  of  the 
farmer,  rather  than  in  the  palace  of  the  banker. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  the  suggestion  of  the  President  is  sound, 
that  the  United  States  Bank  dare  not  operate  oppressively,  be- 
cause the  state  banks,  having  government  deposites,  jnight  run 
upon  the  branches,  then  there  is  a  check  at  all  times,  in  the  hands 
of  the  government ;  and  the  bank,  during  its  legal  existence,  will 


(     35     ) 

be  careful  not  to  do  or  omit,  what  might  warrant  a  total  removal 
of  the  (leposites. 

So  that  the  United  States  Bank  is  represented  by  some  of  the 
local  banks  as  an  engine  so  powerful  as  to  be  an  object  of  univer- 
sal alarm  ;  and,  the  next  moment,  so  utterly  feeble,  that  by  the 
simple  operation  of  a  treasury  order,  the  entire  branches  may  be 
broken  up  one  after  the  other,  and  the  paper  flung  upon  them  in 
masses,  which  they  will  not  be  prepared  to  redeem  !  Which  of 
these  is  the  true  picture  ?  If  a  treasury  order  has  such  talismanic 
influence,  can  there  be  a  better  pledge  for  the  safety  of  the  public 
deposites  ?  But,  if  it  has  no  such  power,  is  it  discreet  to  commence 
the  war  ?  In  all  such  calculations,  as  those  referred  to,  the  fling- 
ing back  masses  of  bank  paper,  and  breaking  up  the  branches, 
are  items,  that  seem  to  have  caused  no  compassion  for  the  ulti- 
mate sufferers.  It  appears  to  have  been  forgotten,  that  a  large 
portion  of  the  good  and  pure  people  of  the  land  would  be  ruined 
— and  why  ruined  ?  because  the  government  of  their  country  had 
put  the  power  to  ruin  them  into  the  hands  of  corporations,  in- 
tent alone  upon  their  own  aggrandizement  !  Whether  it  is  wise 
to  make  such  experiments,  the  undersigned,  with  confidence,  re- 
spectfully submits. 

He  submits,  with  confidence,  because  he  knows  the  purity  of 
the  President's  purposes,  and  that  he  will  not  press  for  a  measure, 
to  say  the  least  of  it,  of  doubtful  and  portentous  character.  He 
is  not  at  all  surprised,  that  excitement  should  exist ;  it  was  almost 
unavoidable  on  the  part  of  those,  who  are  pure  themselves,  and 
who  sincerely  believe  that  they  see  impurity  in  others  ;  its  ex- 
istence is  even  honourable  to  those,  who,  to  avert  a  catastrophe 
really  apprehended,  are  content  to  incur  some  risk  on  their  own 
part.  No  one  can  imagine,  that  the  President  can  have  had,  or 
can  now  have,  any  other  than  the  purest  intentions  ;  his  appre- 
hensions are  sincere,  not  factitious  ;  but,  still,  the  apprehensions, 
that  are  entertained,  warrant  those  measures  only  which  will  bear 
the  cool  examination  of  the  future  historian,  rather  than  the  test 
of  contemporary  feeling.  It  is  of  such  measures  as  are  now  pro- 
posed, that  history  will  be  the  record.  It  will  be  to  the  adoption 
or  rejection  of  then),  that  public  men,  in  after  times,  will  look 
for  examples.  It  is  all  important,  therefore,  that  the  most  exalted 
ground  should  be  taken,  when  about  to  direct  movements,  that 
will  be  compared  with  the  past,  that  will  affect  the  present,  and 
be  an  enduring  guide  in  future. 


The  President,  indeed,  seems  to  think,  that  he  is  but  obeying 
the  will  of  the  people  ;  he  believes  that  his  veto  message  became 
the  deciding  as  well  as  dividing  point  at  elections.  But  the  un- 
dersigned is  unable  to  concur  with  him,  that  his  election  was  the 
result  of  a  contest  on  that  point.  In  many  parts  of  the  Union,  the 
bank  question  formed  no  part  of  the  materials  of  dispute  ;  in 
others,  many  friends  of  the  bank  voted  for  the  President ;  and 
every  where,  thousands  voted,  for  the  same  reasons,  that  had  in- 
duced them  to  call  him  from  his  farm — they  knew  his  services  to  | 
be  glorious,  and  his  patriotism  to  be  greater  still. 

But,  if  it  is  true,  that,  when  the  President  said  he  left  the 
question  to  the  people,  they  really  took  it  up,  then  the  under- 
signed respectfully  asks,  whether  it  was  ever  supposed,  that  the 
secretary  of  the  treasury  was  to  be  their  champion?    Was  it  not 
rather  the  design  of  the  President,  that  the  people  should  send 
to  congress  agents,  who  would  be  true  to  their  trusts  ?    Surely 
this  is  the  constitutional  and  the  patriotic  course,  and  if  it  shall 
not  answer,  then  the  undersigned  thinks  that  the  days  of  the  re- 
public are  counted.     But,  he  does  not  so  think,  neither  will  the 
President  so  think,   if  he  shall  reflect  upon  the  career  of  his 
country  ;  on  the  contrary,  the  undersigned  is  persuaded,  that,  as 
the  sun  of  the  President's  eventful  life  shall  be  setting,  he  will 
see  his  country  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  all  the  liberty  and  hap- 
piness, which  he  has  done  so  much  to  transmit  unimpaired  to 
posterity. 

VIII.     It  may  perhaps,  be  asked,  whether  the  power,  confer- 
red, by  the  United  States  Bank  charter,  upon  the  secretary  of 
the  treasury,  is  to  remain  a  dead  letter  upon  the  statute  book? 
In  the  first  place,  it  may  be  replied,  that,  if  it  should  so  remain, 
it  may  be  honourable  to  the  country  as  well  as  beneficial ;  for  it 
will  appear,  that  arbitrary  principles  are  not  resorted  to,  what- 
ever may  be  the  force  of  extraneous  excitement — it  will  appear, 
that  the  power  given,  was  not  exercised  as  a  substitute  for  the 
constitutional  prerogatives  of  the  legislature  or  judiciary.   In  the 
next  place,  it  by  no  means  follows,  that  because  the  undersigned 
is  unwilling  to  enter  into  an  alliance  with  divers  banks,  that  have 
interests  adverse  to  each  other,  and  no  common  interest  but  to 
make  all  the  money  they  can  out  of  the  treasure  of  the  country, 
he  is  to  be  perfectly  passive,  in  all  other  respects.    It  is  the  opi- 
nion of  the  undersigned,  that  the  public  deposites  will  not  consti- 
tute such  a  fund,  as  to  warrant  extensive  operations  on  the  part 


^^It 


of  any  bank.  If  the  revenue  of  the  present  year  shall  meet  the 
demands  upon  the  treasury,  it  does  not  seem  to  be  probable,  that 
the  surplus  will  be  considerable.  It  is  the  present  j)olicy  of  the 
constituted  authorities  to  keep  down  the  income  to  the  wants  of 
the  government.  The  results  of  legislative  proceedings,  of  late 
adopted,  cannot  be  very  clearly  anticipated.  So  that,  it  will  be- 
hoove the  United  Slates  Bank  to  regulate  its  operations  accord- 
ingly. But,  it  will  be  the  duty  of  the  bank,  whatever  may  be 
the  amount  of  deposites,  to  reduce  gradually  the  circle  of  its  busi- 
ness, in  order  to  avoid  the  pressure,  upon  the  community,  aris- 
ing from  a  sudden  suspension — a  pressure  injurious  to  the  bank, 
as  well  as  to  the  public  and  the  government.  And  the  undersign- 
ed thinks,  that  the  country,  as  the  proprietor  of  one-fifth  of  the 
capital,  and  upon  general  principles  also,  has  a  right  to  call  on 
the  bank  so  gradually  to  abridge  its  business. 

If  the  bank  sliould  not  do,  what  any  prudent  private  banker,  in 
the  certain  assurance  of  an  early  death,  or  any  incorporated  local 
bank  destined  to  close  its  business,  would  do  ;  then,  it  will  be  the 
duty  of  the  undersigned  to  consider,  in  what  way  he  may  so 
exercise  the  power  vested  in  him,  as  to  cause  a  reduction  of  its 
business.  The  welfare  of  the  country,  the  convenience  of  the  go- 
vernment, and  the  interests  of  the  bank  itself,  demand,  that  all 
concerned  should  so  co-operate,  as  to  prevent  any  of  those  evils, 
which  flow  from  changes  in  the  character  or  amount  of  a  circu- 
lating medium.  It  may,  besides,  be  in  the  power  of  the  under- 
signed, without  any  risk  of  censure,  to  resort  to  means,  that 
would  be  productive  of  benefit  to  all  concerned,  or  at  least  not 
prejudicial  to  any. 

Whatever  may  be  deemed  best,  should  be  done  cautiously, 
gradually,  and  with  a  due  regard  to  the  rights  and  interests  of  the 
weak  as  well  as  the  strong.  VB^ 

IX.  The  undersigned  might  proceed,  in  a  more  extended  dis-^^fc| 
cussion  of  the  subject,under  consideration,  if  such  were  necessary. 
He  has  tried  to  shun  the  paths,  already  beaten  by  those,  whose 
opinions  the  President  has  availed  himself  of.  He  has  indeed  con- 
sulted his  own  heart  and  head  as  his  arbiters.  He  has  appealed  to 
the  aid  of  common  sense,  as  well  as  of  ollicial  intelligence,  and 
will  here  close  his  remarks.  Nothing  but  a  profound  conviction 
of  being  in  the  right,  could  have  induced  the  undersigned  to  take 
his  first  step  in  opposition  to  what  is  so  obviously  the  President's 
sincere  desire.     The  undersigned    has  too  great  a   respect   for 


(     38     ) 

the  judgment  of  the  President,  and  too  little  confidence  in  his 
own,  dogmatically  to  say,  that  the  President  is  mistaken,  and 
that  the  undersigned  cannot  be  so.  Happily,  if  the  proposed  mea- 
sure really  is  essential  to  any  great  or  good  end,  it  is  not  in  the 
power  of  any  man,  much  less  of  the  undersigned,  to  set  himself 
up  successfully  against  a  chief  magistrate,  to  whom  the  country 
owes  so  much.  Far  from  seeking  such  a  celebrity, the  undersigned 
is  prepared  to  make  any  personal  sacrifice,  except  an  acquies- 
cence in  a  measure,  that  he  positively  believes  to  be  at  variance 
with  his  obligations  to  the  country,  the  President,  and  himself. 
In  any  event,  no  change  can  be  made  in  those  sentiments  of 
sincere  respect  and  attachment,  which  will  ever  be  entertained 
for  the  President,  by  his  obedient  servant, 

W.  J.  DUANE." 


LETTER  V. 


Fellow-Citizens  ; 

Mt  principal  object  in  addressing  these  letters  to  you,  has 
been  to  repel  attacks  upon  my  reputation,  obviously  sanctioned 
by  the  President  of  the  United  States.  And  if  I  had  made;  no 
other  defence  than  the  letter,  which  I  addressed  to  him  on  the 
10th  of  July,  I  am  satisfied  it  would  have  protected  me  from  the 
false  and  malignant  aspersions  of  his  official  paper. 

In  submitting  that  letter  to  you,  I  have  defended  myself  against 
the  President's  assaults,  and  at  the  same  time  removed  the  doubt, 
which  appeared  to  have  been  entertained  by  some  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  whether  the  President 
had  been  duly  warned  as  to  the  consequences  of  his  proceedings. 
So  that  of  all  my  objects  in  addressing  you,  so  far  as  the  public 
are  concerned,  but  one  remains  to  be  executed ;  that  of  explain- 
ing the  circumstances  connected  with  the  mission  of  an  agent  to 
make  inquiries  as  to  the  substitution  of  state  banks  for  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States,  for  conducting  the  fiscal  operations  of  the 
government.  In  giving  this  explanation,  I  shall  remove  another 
doubt,  expressed  in  the  senate  of  the  United  States,  whether  an 
effort  had  been  made  to  ascertain  the  consequences  of  the  re- 


1 


■5jys     (  39  ) 

moval  of  the  deposites  upon  the  relations  of  the  United  States 
Bank  and  the  state  banks  towards  each  other.  I  shall  -show  that, 
important  as  such  an  inquiry  was,  the  President  would  not  con- 
sent that  it  should  be  made. 

But  before  I  proceed  to  these  explanations,  you  may  desire  to 
know  the  incidents,  which  followed  the  delivery  of  my  letter  of 
the  10th  of  July ;  a  desire  on  your  part  which  may  be  the  more 
readily  gratified,  as  a  narrative  of  those  incidents  will  naturally 
lead  to  the  subject  of  the  mission,  which  I  have  just  referred  to. 
I  delivered  to  the  President,  on  the  12th  of  July,  my  letter  of 
the  10th  of  that  month.  If  he  had  been  disposed  to  respect  the 
frankness  on  my  part,  which  he  had  not  only  invited  but  required, 
no  sort  of  dissatisfaction  would  have  been  felt  by  him,  when  he 
read  my  letter.  On  the  contrary,  as  it  was  his  boasted  rule  of 
conduct  always  to  do  what  he  thought  right  himself,  he  should 
have  commended  me  for  following  his  own  example.  And  if  he 
meant  to  respect  the  promise,  which  he  gave  me,  not  to  interfere 
with  the  independent  exercise  of  the  discretion  committed  to  the 
secretary  of  the  treasury  over  the  deposites,  he  would  have  con- 
sidered our  correspondence  closed  by  the  letter  before  him. 

But  rumour,  particularly  agile  at  Washington,  soon  removed 
suspense  on  my  part ;  and  its  report  was  confirmed  by  a  cold  and 
almost  querulous  note  from  the  President  himself,  which,  in  ef- 
fect, announced  that  he  would  not  respect  my  sincerity  or  his 
own  promise.  He  inquired  what  fiscal  agent  I  proposed  in  lieu 
of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  since  I  objected  to  that  bank 
and  the  state  banks  also ;  and  desired  an  interview  on  the  subject 
on  the  15th  of  July. 

Accordingly,  on  that  day  I  waited  upon  the  President ;  but  as 
it  is  not  needful  to  my  defence  to  mention  the  particulars  of  our 
conversation,  I  will  barely  say,  that  as  to  a  fiscal  agency,  I  refer- 
red to  my  letter  of  the  10th  of  July.  In  that  letter  I  had  repre- 
sented, that  the  adoption  of  a  fiscal  agency  was  a  legislative  duty, 
and  that  the  whole  subject  of  the  currency  must  be  considered 
by  congress,  in  providing  for  the  safety  and  transmission  of  the 
public  funds.  Consequently,  as  the  mere  agent  of  congress,  I 
would  not  venture  beyond  my  own  sphere,  however  inclined  I 
might  be  respectfully  to  make  suggestions  thereafter.  The  Pre- 
sident finally  said,  he  would  send  me  an  answer  to  my  letter  of 
the  10th  of  July,  and  he  accordingly  did  so  on  the  17th  of  that 
month.    This  reply  was  explanatory,  and  perhaps  I  may  add 


(     40     ) 

exculpatory  also.  As  soon  as  I  received  it,  I  wrote  a  commen- 
tary, dated  the  19th  of  July,  and  would  have  delivered  it  but  for 
the  considerations  which  I  shall  now  mention. 

When  the  President  was  at  Boston,  he  necessarily  addressed 
me  by  letter;  but,  when  he  returned,  although  his  letter  to  me 
claimed  a  written  reply,  I  perceived  no  necessity  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  a  formal  correspondence.  On  the  contrary,  it  seem- 
ed to  be  incorrect,  that  two  agents  of  the  same  people,  who 
met  every  day  for  the  common  good,  should  act  as  if  they  were 
the  representatives  of  antagonist  powers.  On  other  subjects,  the 
President  and  heads  of  departments  had  no  such  formal  inter- 
course ;  and  I  considered  it  my  duty  not  to  encourage  it,  although 
by  withholding  this  letter  1  did  violence  to  my  personal  feelings. 

Besides,  it  was  perfectly  obvious,  that  it  was  not  with  the 
President  I  was  measuring  the  weapons  of  argument,  but  that  I 
was  thrust  at  from  behind  the  tapestry,  without  any  power  on 
my  part  to  return  the  blow,  except  upon  the  President,  who 
really  seemed  to  be  unconscious  that  it  had  been  struck.  By 
this  I  mean,  that  in  writing  the  President  was  made  to  insinuate 
what  was  at  variance  with  his  own  declarations;  so  that  I  was 
compelled  to  believe  either  that  he  was  unconscious  of  what  was 
written  for  him,  or  else  that  he  was  deceitful  to  me.  I  adopted 
the  former  of  these  alternatives  as  the  most  charitable  conclusion, 
especially  as  I  became  more  and  more  satisfied  that  the  President 
was  not  guided,  as  to  the  deposite  question  at  least,  by  his  con- 
stitutional advisers,  but  impelled  by  persons  who  had  sinister 
views. 

Accordingly,  I  concluded  to  promote  personal  intercourse 
onl}^,  and  even  flattered  myself,  that  if  communication  by  letters 
could  be  terminated,  the  President  would  adhere  to  his  assurance 
not  to  "  interfere  with  the  independent  exercise  of  the  discretion 
committed  to  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  by  law  over  the  sub- 
ject" of  the  deposites.  Under  the  influence  of  these  feelings, 
and  to  avoid  suspense,  I  waited  upon  the  President  twice  on  the 
19th,  and  again  on  the  20th  of  July.  At  these  interviews  he  said 
he  wanted  an  inquiry  only  ;  and,  on  my  saying  that  his  letter  of 
June  26th  indicated  an  actual  removal  by  the  15th  of  Septem- 
ber, he  remarked  that  the  banks  might  not  agree  to  the  only 
plan  he  thought  safe,  that  of  mutual  guarantee  ;  that  information 
ought  to  be  obtained,  even  for  the  use  of  congress;  that  he  con- 
ceived I  ought  to  co-operate  in  collecting  it;  that  he  was  de- 


(     41     ) 

sirous  that  Mr.  Kendall  should  make  inquiries;  and  that  we 
might  rem;iin  uncommitted,  until  after  a  consideration  of  the 
questions  that  were  connected  with  a  change  of  the  depository. 

Well  disposed  to  obtain  information,  which  I  believed  would 
undeceive  the  President,  and  considering  that  a  knowledge  of 
the  facts  to  be  collected  must  he  useful,  in  any  event,  1  consent- 
ed, as  a  ministerial  act,  to  prepare  a  letter  of  instruction  for  the 
President's  agent.  When  I  had  written  it,  I  waited  upon  the 
President  on  the  22d  of  July,  not  doubting  but  that  he  would 
confer  with  me  as  to  the  points  of  inquiry  embraced  in  it,  and 
indicate  any  imperfection  or  omission.  But  in  this  I  was  greatly 
disappointed,  for  he  desired  me  to  leave  the  letter  of  instruction 
for  his  examination,  adding,  that  he  would  see  me  after  he  had 
considered  it. 

I  will  here  lay  that  letter  before  you.  The  paragraphs  e,  f,  g, 
u,  I,  K,  L,  were  embraced  in  the  President's  plan  of  state  bank 
agency,  quoted  from  his  letter  from  Boston,  dated  June  26th. 
The  remaining  paragraphs  were  introduced  by  myself. 

Instriictio7%s. 

(a)  "Sir — The  operations  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
excepting  such  as  may  be  necessary  for  winding  up  its  affairs, 
will  cease  on  the  4th  of  March  1836.  If,  in  the  opinion  of  the 
secretary  of  the  treasury,  adequate  reasons  shall  justify  the  mea- 
sure, he  may  at  any  time  prior  to  that  period  cease  to  deposite 
the  public  money  in  that  bank. 

(b)  "The  President,  therefore,  considers  it  his  duty  to  ascer- 
tain whether  a  substitute  for  the  present  public  depository  may 
not  be  had  ;  in  the  event  of  a  change  prior  to  the  termination  of 
the  charter,  or  at  the  dissolution  of  the  bank,  should  it  until  then 
remain  the  depository. 

(c)  "It  is  the  opinion  of  the  President,  that  to  conduct  the 
fiscal  operations  of  the  government,  bank  agency  is  necessary; 
and,  as  he  cannot,  consistently  with  his  avowed  sentiments,  sanc- 
tion any  national  institution,  he  desires  to  seek  for  agents  amongst 
the  banks  incorporated  by  the  several  states  in  their  individual 
capacity. 

(d)  "The  President,  having' designated  you  as  the  agent  to 
make  the  necessary  inquiries,  I  beg  leave  to  present  to  you  the 
views  that  he  entertains  as  your  guide;  it  being  understood  that 
you   are  to  make  inquiries  of  all   the   banks   in   the   principal 

y 


(     42     ) 

cities,  in  which  primary  banks  are  to  be  selected  in  order  that 
an  ample  scope  for  selection  may  be  had. 

(e)  *'1.  That  one  bank  be  selected  in  Baltimore,  one  in  Phila- 
delphia, two  in  New  York,  and  one  in  Boston,  with  a  right  on 
the  part  of  the  government  to  add  one  in  Savannah,  one  in 
Charleston,  S.C.,  one  in  the  state  of  Alabama,  one  in  New  Or- 
leans, and  one  in  Norfolk,  upon  their  acceding  to  the  terms  pro- 
posed, all  which  shall  receive  the  deposites  in  those  places  re- 
spectively, and  be  each  responsible  to  the  government  for  the 
whole  public  deposites  of  the  United  States,  wherever  made. 

(r)  "2.  That  those  banks  shall  have  the  right,  by  a  conven- 
tion  of  their  presidents  or  otherwise,  to  select  all  the  banks  at 
other  points  throughout  the  United  States,  in  which  the  public 
money  shall  be  deposited,  with  an  absolute  negative  by  the  secre- 
tary of  the  treasury. 

(g)  "3.  That  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  shall  have  power 
to  discontinue  the  deposites  in  any  bank  or  banks,  or  break  up 
the  whole  arrangement,  whenever  he  may  think  proper,  he  giv- 
ing in  such  case  the  longest  notice  of  his  intention  to  do  so, 
which  the  public  interest  may  warrant. 

(h)  "4.  That  the  primary  and  secondary  banks  shall  make  re- 
turns of  their  entire  condition  to  the  secretary  of  the  treasury 
monthly,  or  oftener  if  he  shall  require  it,  and  report  to  the  trea- 
surer weekly  the  state  of  his  deposites  with  them  respectively; 
and  that  they  shall  also  subject  themselves  to  a  critical  examina- 
tion of  their  books  and  transactions  by  the  secretary  of  the  trea- 
sury, or  an  authorised  agent,  whenever  the  secretary  may  re- 
quire it. 

(i)  "5.  That  the  arrangement  of  the  government  be  only  with 
the  primary  banks,  which  shall  be  responsible  to  it,  not  only  for 
the  safety  of  the  entire  deposites,  wherever  made,  but  for  making 
payment  at  any  places  in  the  United  States,  (without  charge  to 
the  government,)  in  gold  or  silver,  or  its  equivalent,  of  any  sum 
which  may  be  required  there  to  be  paid  by  the  secretary  of  the 
treasury :  that  they  will  also  pay  any  expenses  of  an  agent,  tem- 
porary or  permanent,  whom  the  secretary  may  appoint  to  examine 
into  their  affairs. 

(k)  <'6.  That  they  will  render,  or  cause  to  be  rendered,  with- 
out charge,  every  service,  which  can  now  be  lawfully  required 
of  the  United  States  Bank. 

(l)   "7.  [Unimportant] 


(     43     )  .       '■* 

(m)  <'8.  If  the  banks,  or  any  sufficient  number  of  them,  shall 
be  disposed  to  make  such  arrangements  as  are  contemplated  by 
the  President,  it  will  be  necessary  to  inquire  of  them  whether 
their  several  charters  authorise  them  to  make  such  an  arrange- 
ment as  is  contemplated  ;  that  is,  whether  the  president  and  direc- 
tors may  lawfully  enter  into  the  engagements  required. 

(n)  "9.  In  order  to  ascertain  whether  the  proposed  arrange- 
ment is  practicable,  under  circumstances,  that  may  be  expected 
to  arise,  inquiry  should  be  made  of  all  the  banks,  whether,  if 
this  arrangement  should  be  made  prior  to  the  4th  of  March  1836, 
it  will  be  in  the  power  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  to  em- 
barrass  or  interrupt  it;  and  whether  any  proceeding  of  that  kind 
is  to  be  apprehended.  In  case  any  such  proceeding  may  be  ap- 
prehended, it  will  be  proper  to  inquire,  what  would  be  the  pro- 
bable effects  of  any  collision  or  contest  (between  the  selected 
banks  and  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  or  other  banks  favour- 
able to  or  combining  with  it),  not  only  upon  the  banks  them- 
selves, but  upon  the  community  at  large. 

(o)  ''10.  In  order  that  a  full  investigation  may  be  had  upon 
matters  deeply  interesting  to  the  country,  it  is  desirable  that  the 
views  of  the  President  herein  expressed  should  be  fully  commu- 
nicated to  the  banks  proposed  to  be  made  public  depositories  ; 
and  that  the  banks  should  be  required  to  give  specific  replies  in 
writing,  embracing  statements  of  their  affairs  respectively,  on 
the  first  day  of  the  present  month — the  capital  actually  paid  in 
— the  amount  of  notes  in  circulation — the  amount  of  specie  ac- 
tually on  hand — the  amount  of  deposites — the  amount  of  debts 
due  to  the  banks  respectively — the  amount  due  by  them  respec- 
tively— the  nature  and  amount  of  the  bank  property  of  each — 
and  all  other  facts  that  you  may  (teem  necessary  to  be  known  tp  tv 
enable  the  government  to  act  advisedly,  and  to  understand  th^^j^ 
true  condition  of  the  banks  proposed  to  be  made  depositories.  1^^ 

(p)  <'  Apprehending  that  any  proceeding  whatever,  especial- 
ly at  the  present  time,  may  be  likely  to  promote  what  is  called 
stock  speculation,  with  all  the  mischiefs  and  tendency  of  gaming, 
I  respectfully  express  my  conviction,  that  your  agency  ought 
not  to  be  regarded  as  a  matter  to  be  kept  secret,  but  on  the  con- 
trary, that  its  objects  should  be  explicitly  avowed  upon  all  pro- 
per occasions.  Secrecy  is  not  necessary,  nor  is  it  practicable  if 
it  were  so ;  so  that  to  attain  a  public  object,  the  means  should  be 
open  in  themselves  and  in  their  developments.    It  will  of  course 


(     44     ) 

be  proper  to  communicate  from  time  to  time  the  progress  you 
may  make. 

(q)  "  Having  thus,  Sir,  placed  before  you  the  views  of  the  Pre- 
sident, and  such  suggestions  on  my  own  part  as  seemed  to  be 
called  for,  it  becomes  my  duty  to  myself,  in  order  to  guard 
against  expectations,  on  the  part  of  the  banks,  that  may  not  be 
realized,  or  misapprehension  elsewhere,  distinctly  to  say  that  my 
performance  of  the  present  act  of  duty,  as  an  executive  agent,  is 
not  to  be  understood  as  an  indication  of  any  intention  on  my 
part,  under  existing  circumstances,  to  exei'cise  the  power  vested 
in  me  by  law.  Whether  such  an  emergency  may  not  arise  as 
may  warrant  the  exercise  of  that  power,  it  is  unnecessary  now 
to  anticipate;  it  is  sufficient  to  observe,  that  in  my  opinion  none 
such  exists  at  present." 

•  •  •  •  In  the  afternoon  of  the  day  on  which  I  delivered  these 
instructions,  to  the  President,  for  examination,  instead  of  a  mes- 
sage for  a  personal  explanation,  I  received  a  letter,  of  which  this 
is  a  copy. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  to  the  Secretary 

OP  the  Treasury. 

('  Washington,  July  22,  1833. 

''My  dear  sir:  I  cannot  perceive  the  propriety  of  the  conr 
eluding  paragraph  q  in  the  draft  of  instructions,  proposed  to  the 
agent  of  inquiry,  which  you  have  submitted  to  me  this  morn- 
ing; unless  you  are  determined  not  to  acquiesce  in  the  decision 
which  the  President,  on  advisement  with  his  cabinet,  may  make 
after  a  full  view  of  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  You  may 
not  be  aware  that  such  is  the  construction  which  the  paragraph 
authorises,  and  that  it  is  manifestly  at  variance  with  the  views 
which  render  the  inquiry  expedient.  The  great  object  to  be  ob- 
tained by  the  inquiry  is  to  ascertain  whether  the  state  banks  will 
agree  to  become  the  agents  of  the  government,  on  the  terms  pro- 
posed, for  the  safe  keeping  and  transmission  of  the  public  mo- 
neys. If  they  will,  the  ground  taken  by  the  President,  should 
circumstances  remain  as  they  now  arc,  is  that  it  will  be  then  ex- 
pedient and  just  to  resort  to  them  as  a  substitute  for  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States  as  a  fiscal  agent.  But  lest  in  the  course  of  the 
inquiry  something  might  arise  which  would  justify  a  different 
course,  it  was  deemed  best  by  us,  at  our  last  interview,  that  there 


(     45     ) 


•' 


should  be  no  commitment  bej-ond  the  inquiry  at  this  time,  as  to 
the  action  of  the  government  in  regard  to  the  change  of  the  de- 
positcs;  and  that  on  the  latter  point  a  decision  should  be  post- 
poned until  the  report  of  the  agent  should  be  received,  when 
there  would  be  a  full  consideration  of  the  conduct  of  the  bank, 
and  of  all  the  matters  connected  with  the  substitution  of  another 
fiscal  agent. 

<«  Previously  to  inquiry,  however,  you  declare  that  nothing 
has  yet  occurred  to  render  necessary  the  movement  anticipated 
by  it,  and  thus  leave  me  to  infer  that  should  the  inquiry  estab- 
lish the  competency  of  the  state  banks  to  perform  the  agency 
proposed  to  them,  you  will  not  feel  yourself  at  liberty  to  carry 
into  effect,  the  decision,  transferring  the  public  deposites  to  them, 
which  the  President,  on  advisement  with  his  cabinet,  may  make. 
Please  inform  me  whether  I  am  correct  in  supposing  that  this  is 
your  determination.  If  I  am,  it  will  then  be  my  duty  in  frank- 
ness and  candour  to  suggest  the  course  which  will  be  necessary 
on  my  part. 

<'I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

ANDREW  JACKSON." 

I  considered  this  a  palpable  violation  of  the  President's  assur- 
ance, given  to  me  in  his  letter  of  the  2Glh  of  June,  from  Boston, 
that  <'  it  was  not  his  intention  to  interfere  with  the  independent 
exercise  of  the  discretion  committed  to  the  secretary  of  the  trea- 
sury, by  law,  over  the  subject"  of  the  deposites;  and  I  was  at 
first  inclined  peremptorily  to  adhere  to  the  last  paragraph  q  of 
the  instructions.  It  occurred  to  me,  however,  that  the  President 
still  admitted  in  his  letter,  that  <'all  ma'tlcrs  connected  with  the 
substitution  of  another  fiscal  agent"  for  the  United  States  Bank, 
were  to  be  <'  fully  considered."  I  knew  that  the  instructions  (an 
alteration  of  which  was  then  unknown  to  nic)  contemplated  the 
President's  bank  plan  alone,  the  practicability  of  which  I  doubted. 
I  also  knew  that  the  instructions  contemplated  the  collection  of 
information,  as  to  the  effect  of  a  removal  of  the  deposites  upon 
the  mutual  relations  of  banks,  and  upon  society,  which  if  faith- 
fully collected,  would,  I  believed,  disabuse  the  President's  mind. 
And  I  could  not  with  propriety  say  tiiat  I  would  not  at  a  future 
period  act,  because  it  might  become  my  duty  to  do  so.  Under 
these  impressions.  I  forthwith  wrote  the  following  reply: 


(     46     ) 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  the  President  op  the 

United  States. 

"  Treasury  department,  July  22,  1833. 

"  Sir:  In  answer  to  the  letter  which  I  have  had  the  honour  to 
receive  from  you,  this  afternoon,  I  beg  leave  to  state  that,  hav- 
ing understood  your  present  object  to  be  merely  an  inquiry  into 
the  practicability  of  the  arrangement,  which  you  desire  to  make 
with  the  state  banks,  in  case  it  should  be  deemed  proper  to  em- 
ploy them  as  substitutes  for  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  and 
that  there  should  be  no  commitment  beyond  that  inquiry,  it  oc- 
curred to  me  that  it  would  be  prudent  to  insert  in  the  instructions 
to  the  agent,  a  paragraph,  which  would  prevent  misconception, 
that  might  otherwise  be  produced,  undesignedly  on  his  part,  in 
the  minds  of  the  directors  of  the  state  banks,  or  of  those  of  the 
public.  If  such  misconceptions  should  be  otherwise  guarded 
against,  as  they  may  be,  I  have  no  desire  on  my  own  account 
that  the  paragraph  q  should  be  retained. 

<'  I  have  already,  both  in  writing  and  verbally,  had  the  honour 
to  state  to  you,  that,  after  the  fullest  consideration  which  I  have 
been  able  to  give  the  subject,  I  do  not,  under  existing  circum- 
stances, feel  myself  justified  in  substituting  state  banks  for  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  as  the  depository  of  the  public  mo- 
ney ;  but  that  I  am  ready  to  make,  under  your  direction,  the 
fullest  inquiry  as  to  the  propriety  of  the  change.  In  the  discharge 
of  the  high  trust  confided  to  me,  it  has  been  my  desire  to  act 
according  to  my  best  judgment,  with  all  the  lights  before  me. 
And  although  1  do  not  anticipate  such  a  change  in  my  views  on 
the  subject,  even  if  the  inquiry  should  establish  the  practicability 
of  employing  the  state  hanks,  as  will  lead  me  to  remove  the  de- 
posites  for  any  cause  now  known  to  me,  before  congress  shall 
haye  had  an  opportunity  to  act  upon  the  matter,  yet  I  am  open 
to  conviction,  and  will  not  fail  to  give  the  fullest  consideration 
to  any  new  facts  which  may  be  presented,  and  to  any  informa- 
tion that  may  be  obtained  in  the  proposed  inquiry.  I  shall  also 
be  ready  to  enter  into  a  full  examination  of  the  whole  subject, 
when  you  shall,  as  you  propose,  bring  it  before  your  cabinet. 
But  if,  after  receiving  the  information,  and  hearing  the  discus- 
sions, I  shall  not  consider  it  my  duty,  as  the  responsible  agent 
of  the  law,  to  carry  into  effect  the  decision  that  you  may  make, 
I  will,  from  my  respect  for  you  and  for  myself,  promptly  afford 


(     47     )  ^ 

you  an  opportunity  to  select  a  successor,  whose  views  may  ac- 
cord with  your  own  on  the  important  subject  in  contemplation. 

''Beyond  tliis  conclusion  I  respectfully  dbnceive  I  cannot  go 
without  improperly  committing  myself;  a  position  in  which  I 
understood  I  was  not  to  be  put  before  inquiry.  Were  I  now  to 
say,  that  I  would  persist  in  my  present  opinions,  be  the  results 
of  inquiry  and  discussion  what  they  may,  I  should  evince  a  reck- 
lessness to  be  rebuked  ;  on  the  other  hand,  were  I  to  pledge  my- 
self hereafter  to  abandon  my  present  sentiments,  without  knowing 
whether  any  thing  may  arise  to  justify  the  change,  1  should  be- 
tray a  weakness  to  be  pitied,  perhaps  despised.  All  that  I  can 
promise,  therefore,  consistently  with  the  respect  due  to  you  as 
well  as  myself,  is,  that,  when  the  moment  for  decision,  after  in- 
quiry and  discussion,  shall  arrive,  I  will  concur  with  you,  or 
retire. 

"With  the  utmost  consideration,  your  obedient  servant. 

W.  J.  DUANE." 

On  the  next  day.  after  I  had  with  the  utmost  sincerity  given 
the  assurance  contained  in  the  above  letter,  in  the  confidence  that 
a  full  inquiry  was  meditated  by  the  President,  he  returned  the 
instructions  to  me  altered  in  the  very  particulars  which  had  been 
in  my  contemplation  when  that  assurance  was  given.  That  is, 
I  had  embraced  in  the  instructions  the  President's  plan  of  state 
bank  agency,  for  on  the  19th  of  July  he  declared  no  otlier  would 
be  safe ;  1  had  also  incorporated  a  direction  to  collect  information 
as  to  the  effects  of  a  removal  of  the  deposites  upon  the  mutual 
relations  of  the  banks,  and  upon  society ;  and  in  his  letter  above 
quoted,  the  President  admitted  that  inquify  was  to  be  made  into 
"all  matters  connected  with  the'substitution  of  another  fiscal 
agent."  In  this  state  of  things,  I  assured  the  President,  that,  if 
after  receiving  the  information,  to  be  obtained  by  the  agent,  and 
consequent  discussion,  I  could  not  agree  witji  him,  I  would  re- 
tire. On  the  receipt  of  this  assurance,  the  Presiilcnt  struck  out 
the  direction  to  collect  information,  and  inserted  a  new  provi- 
sion, empowering  the  agent  to  propose  or  accept  new  plans. 

My  confidence  now  began  to  waver.  I  perceived  that  a  full 
and  fair  inquiry  into  "all  matters  connected  with  the  substitution 
of  another  fiscal  agent,"  was  not  meditated.  And  the  question 
inevitably  presented  itself,  whether,  in  the  altered  circumstances, 
I  was  not  absolved  from  an  obligation  to  respect  the  assurance  T 


(     48     ) 

had  given.  But,  I  still  flattered  myself  that  the  President  would 
be  undeceived,  and  that  the  time  of  the  meeting  of  congress 
would  be  so  closely 'approximated,  ere  a  suitable  inquiry  could 
be  made,  as  to  render  any  action  by  the  President  altogether  in- 
delicate and  improper.  I,  therefore,  prepared  the  instructions  as 
altered;  not  with  a  view  to  retain  a  post  which  had  no  longer 
any  attractions  for  me,  not  to  thwart  the  President  in  his  legi- 
timate course,  not  to  mar  a  salutary  measure,  but  to  prevent  the 
execution  of  a  scheme  which  I  believed  would  be  detrimental  to 
the  country  and  the  President  himself. 

The  alterations  made  in  the  instructions  were  these — 

Instead  of  paragraph  c,  according  to  which  I  had  made  the 
President,  as  I  supposed  he  was,  an  opponent  of  any  national  bank, 
he  introduced  the  following  : — 

"  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  President,  that  hereafter  as  heretofore 
bank  agency  will  be  found  convenient,  in  managing  the  fiscal 
operations  of  the  government ;  and,  as  he  cannot,  consistently 
with  his  avowed  sentiments,  sanction  any  national  institution,  or- 
ganized upon  the  principles  of  the  existing  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  he  deems  it  proper  to  ascertain  whether  all  the  services 
now  rendered  by  it  may  not  be  performed  by  the  banks  incorpo- 
rated by  the  several  states,  on  terms  equally  or  more  favourable 
to  the  government." 

The  paragraph  d  was  altered  by  striking  out  these  words  : 
<'  It  being  understood  that  you  are  to  make  inquiries  of  all  the 
banks  in  the  principal  cities,  in  which  the  primary  banks  are  to 
be  selected,  in  order  that  ample  scope  for  selection  may  be  had." 

Paragraphs  l,  n  and  q  were  wholly  struck  out.  1  have  not 
copied  L  in  the  instructions,  as  it  was  not  thought  proper  to  be 
embraced  in  them,  on  justifiable  considerations :  its  omission  does 
not  affect  any  existing  question. 

This  new  paragraph  was  added  :  — 

"You  are  not  to  consider  yourself  precluded  by  these  instruc- 
tions from  making  any  other  propositions  to  the  said  banks,  for 
the  purpose  of  ascertaining  on  what  terms  they  will  undertake 
the  service  referred  to  ;  and  you  are  at  liberty  to  receive  any  pro- 
positions from  them  that  they  may  think  proper  to  make." 

The  instructions,  thus  altered,  were  on  the  23d  of  July  sent  to 
the  agent,  who  soon  after  proceeded  on  his  mission.  He  returned 
early  in  September,  and  on  the  9th  of  that  month  his  report  was 
submitted  to  the  President.    The  plan  of  bank  agency,  deemed 


(     49     ) 

by  the  President  the  only  safe  one,  had  been  almost  unanimously 
rejected  by  the  state  banks.  The  materials  (paragraph  o)  from 
which  the  condition  of  the  state  banks  was  to  be  ascertained,  were 
very  imperfectly  furnished.  No  inquiry,  beyond  that  which  re- 
sulted in  the  agent's  report  and  correspondence,  was,  to  my 
knowledge,  made.  Nor  was  there  any  discussion  in  my  presence, 
or  otherwise  to  my  knowledge,  as  to  the  agent's  report  and  cor- 
respondence, or  any  plan  of  state  bank  agency.  If  any  member 
of  the  administration  understood  what  was  to  be  the  system  of 
future  fiscal  operations,  T  was  not  tliat  person,  although  I  atten- 
tively read  all  that  was  submitted.  Yet  it  was  into  this  chaos  I 
was  required  precipitately  to  plunge  the  fiscal  operations  of  the 
country,  at  a  moment  when  they  were  conducted  by  the  legiti- 
mate agent  with  the  utmost  simplicity,  safety,  and  despatch. 

In  my  own  defence,  as  well  as  from  public  considerations,  I 
have  submitted  to  you  this  account  of  the  instructions  given  to 
the  President's  agent.  It  was  due  to  myself  to  show  that  the  in-  .' 
structions,  as  reported  to  the  senate,  are  not  in  the  shape  in  which  ^'- 
I  presented  them  to  the  President.  My  principal  object,  however, 
has  been  to  state  the  important  fact  that  the  President  would  not 
permit  his  own  agent  to  collect  information,  that  might  have  dis- 
abused his  own  mind,  or  instructed  his  cabinet,  whom  he  affect- 
ed to  consult.  If  the  information,  called  for  by  the  instructions 
as  at  first  proposed,  had  been  collected,  I  feel  satisfied,  that  it 
would  have  indicated  the  evil  consequences,  which  have  follow- 
ed the  measures  of  the  President.  Whether  these  acts,  thus  wan- 
tonly executed,  evinced  patriotism  and  magnanimity,  or  a  sub- 
serviency to  a  selfish  cabal,  you  are  competent  to  determine. 

W.  J.  DUANE. 

Philadelphia,  March  3d,  1834. 


LETTER  VI. 

Fellow-Citizens  ; 

In  my  last  letter,  I  reached  the  period  in  my  narrative,  when 
the  President's  a<rent  returned  from  his  mission  to  the  state  banks, 
and  when  his  report  was  placed  in  the  President's  hands.     I 

G 


(     50     ) 

might,  if  at  all  needful  to  my  defence,  here  notice  various  inci- 
dents, that  occurred  between  the  23d  of  July  and  the  9th  of 
September.  There  is  but  one,  however,  which  1  feel  myself  at 
liberty  to  notice  at  present,  and  that  liberty  I  take,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  publication  of  an  insidious  article  in  the  official 
paper  of  the  7th  of  February  last,  founded  upon  a  passage  in 
my  letter  to  Governor  Tazewell. 

In  that  letter  I  mentioned  my  previous  unwillingness  to  give 
a  full  exposition  of  the  incidents  of  my  brief  official  career ;  but 
added  that  I  would  so  far  depart  from  the  rule  of  silence,  as  to 
state  the  true  nature  of  the  service,  which  I  had  been  required 
to  perform,  especially  as  the  official  reasons  given  for  its  execu- 
tion did  not  afford  such  an  explanation.  That  the  true  nature  of 
the  service  was  not  to  substitute  one  fiscal  agent  for  another,  but 
to  pervert  a  power,  reserved  by  law  for  the  public  protection, 
into  a  weapon  to  punish  the  legitimate  fiscal  agent,  at  such  a  time 
and  in  such  a  manner  as  to  evade  legislative  and  judicial  action. 
The  official  paper  of  the  7th  ult.,  perceiving  the  position  in 
which  the  President  was  thus  placed,  relatively  to  the  other  two 
co-ordinate  branches  of  the  government,  put  forth  a  publication 
to  mislead  the  public  mind,  and  to  excuse  the  President  for  not 
having  awaited  the  action  of  congress.  I  propose  in  the  present 
letter  to  examine  this  publication. 

My  explanation  to  Governor  Tazewell  is  described,  in  the  offi- 
cial publication  referred  to,  as  ''Mr.  Duane's  second  thoughts;" 
by  which  it  is  meant,  I  presume,  that  I  had  not  before  thought 
of  what  I  had  then  stated.  But  it  is  barely  necessary  to  read  my 
letter  to  the  President  of  the  10th  of  July,  in  order  to  perceive, 
that  I  then  gave  to  him  the  very  "thoughts,"  which  in  January 
following  I  very  briefly  expressed  to  Governor  Tazewell. 

It  is  in  the  next  place  said,  that  my  explanation  to  Governor 
Tazewell  is  a  "revelation;"  and  this  is  correct,  if  the  assertion 
means,  that  it  is  the  first  public  exposition  of  what  had  not  been 
before  stated.  In  December  last,  1  declined  to  reveal  some  inci- 
dents, which  I  have  now  mentioned ;  and  I  now  forbear  to  state 
particulars  which  I  may  hereafter  refer  to ;  but  my  correspondence 
with  the  President  shows  that  I  might  have  long  since  disclosed 
what  I  now  relate.  I  declined,  however,  until  compelled  to  do 
so  in  self  defence. 

It  is  further  said,  that  I  have  added  a  new  reason,  for  refusing 
to  remove  the  deposites,  to  those  given  in  my  letter  to  the  Pre- 


(     51     ) 

sldent  of  the  21st  of  September  last;  but  it  will  appear,  on  an 
examination  of  that  letter,  that  this  is  a  fallacy.  It  is  true,  I  did 
not  say  in  my  letter  to  the  President,  <'Sir — You  required  me 
to  remove  the  deposites  in  order  to  forestall  the  action  of  con- 
gress;" the  occasion  did  not  call  for  that  mode  of  expression, 
and  courtesy  forbade  it.  But  I  stated  the  fact  in  a  different  way  ; 
I  refused  to  remove  the  deposites,  because  congress  and  the  judi- 
ciar}''  ought  to  be  first  resorted  to,  and  both  were  shunned. 

The  official  paper  then  insinuates,  that  my  explanation  to  Go- 
vernor Tazewell  was  intended  to  operate  on  the  pride  of  power 
in  congress.  That  it  ought  so  to  operate  is  true,  but  that  it  was 
designed  for  that  end  is  unfounded.  My  object  in  showing  what 
was  the  true  nature  of  the  service  required  of  me  was,  to  prove 
that  I  could  not  execute  it  without  detriment  to  the  public  and 
reproach  to  myself,  and  that  my  course  was  not  unworthy  of  the 
approbation  of  the  citizens  of  Norfolk. 

"We  have  understood,"  says  the  official  paper,  <'that  Mr. 
Duane  was  willing  to  fix  a  day  after  the  meeting  of  congress,  on 
which  he  would  remove  the  deposites,  in  case  congress  did  not 
act  upon  the  subject.  And  we  know  that  some  of  those  in  favour 
of  the  removal,  and  among  others  the  agent  employed  in  making 
preparation  for  the  transfer,  were  persuaded  that  Mr.  Duane  was 
sincere  and  honest  in  making  this  proposition,  and  entered  into 
his  views;  but  the  President  saw  that  it  was  utterly  inconsistent 
with  the  principles  which  Mr.  Duane  had  previously  laid  down 
in  writing  as  those  which  would  direct  his  conduct,  and  he  con- 
sidered the  proposition  as  a  mere  finesse  for  the  benefit  of  the 
bank,  and  treated  it  accordingly." 

1  will  not  here  stop  to  comment  upon  the  President's  secret 
sentiments  respecting  me,  which  seem  to  have  been  so  well 
known  to  "the  agent"  and  "others,"  writers  for  his  official 
paper,  but  will  show  what  was  my  proposition. 

When  it  was  known  early  in  September  that  I  persisted  in  my 
refusal  to  remove  the  deposites,  and  even  hesitated  whether  my 
duty  to  the  country  did  not  forbid  a  surrender  of  the  post  in  my 
care,  some  of  the  members  of  the  cabinet  appeared  to  desire  that 
a  middle  course  might  be  pursued.  I  was  asked  whether  I  would 
fix  upon  a  day,  on  which  I  would  remove  the  deposites,  after  the 
meeting  of  congress,  in  case  that  body  should  not  act  on  the  sub- 
ject. Whether  this  inquiry  was  or  was  not  made  with  a  view 
to  an  explanation  with  the  President,  I  do  not  know ;  but  when 


(     52     ) 

I  was  requested  to  state  my  sentiments  in  writing,  I  did  so  in  a 
letter,  dated  September  8th,  of  which  the  following  is  an  extract: 

"  ISIy  conviction  has  been  and  is,  that  no  cause  for  a  change 
of  the  depository  does  exist,  such  as  warrants  the  exercise  of  the 
power  conferred  on  the  secretary  of  the  treasury ;  that,  until 
adequate  cause  to  change  shall  arise,  it  will  be  his  duty  to  de- 
posite  as  at  present,  unless  congress  shall  otherwise  direct.  So  that 
I  can  give  no  assurances  but  these ;  I  will  change  the  depository 
as  soon  as  congress  shall  direct  me  to  do  so,  or  as  soon  as  such 
cause  shall  arise  as  will,  in  my  judgment,  justify  the  act;  but,  if 
congress  shall  not  sanction  the  removal  of  the  deposites  (that  is, 
do  so  previous  to  removal)  I  am  not  at  liberty  to  say,  that  I  will 
act  at  a  given  time;  for  I  do  not  know  that  at  that  time  there 
will  be  any  more  reason  than  there  is  now  for  a  change. 

"Tliis  is  the  result  of  reflection.  I  will  respectfully  and  with- 
out bias  listen  to  what  may  be  said  hereafter ;  but  I  have  no  ex- 
pectation of  varying  in  the  least  from  my  present  position.  I  am 
willing,  and  ready,  and  anxious  to  go  home,  as  soon  as  the  Pre- 
sident shall  say  such  is  his  preference,  rather  than  do  what  I 
should  ever  after  regret  and  condemn."  [See  Appendix  A.] 

Thus  it  appears,  I  refused  to  fix  a  day,  consented  to  remove 
the  deposites  in  case  congress  desired  it,  and  stated  my  readiness 
to  retire  as  soon  as  the  President  should  express  his  preference 
for  that  course.  Here  I  might  rest  my  defence,  but  consider  it 
a  duty  to  proceed. 

In  my  letter  of  the  10th  of  July,  I  said,  that,  to  justify  my 
own  act  in  removing  the  deposites,'!  must  rely  on  my  own  rea- 
sons and  not  on  those  of  others,  obviously  alluding  to  the  offer 
made  to  me  by  the  President  of  his  reasons,  in  case  I  should  not 
consider  my  own  sufficient.  The  official  paper,  however,  says, 
I  refused  to  act  even  upon  reasons  "  legislative"  or  "  executive." 
This  is  not  onl}'  contradicted  by  the  proposition  above  quoted, 
but  by  the  whole  course  of  my  written  and  oral  discussion  with 
the  President ;  it  is  also  controverted  by  what  I  stated  to  the  le- 
gal adviser  of  the  President,  my  successor  in  office,  at  an  inter- 
view had  with  him  by  the  desire  of  the  President  himself.  And 
to  show  more  precisely  the  nature  of  my  argument,  I  quote  the 
following  passage  from  a  paper  drawn  up  on  the  19th  of  July  for 
the  purpose  of  meeting  the  President's  statements: — 

"  You  [the  President]  are  of  opinion  that  there  is  a  radical 
error  in  my  view  of  that  part  of  the  subject  discussed,  which  re- 


lates  to  a  reference  of  the  question  of  the  depositos  to  fhe  next 
congress.  In  order  to  demonstrate  my  supposed  error,  you  ask, 
whether  the  deposites  can  be  removed  except  by  the  secretary 
of  the  treasury  ?  to  which  there  can  be  no  other  reply  than,  that 
the  secretary  alone  can  remove  them.  You,  then,  however,  in- 
quire whetiicr  congress  can  make  any  provision  for  a  deposite 
of  the  public  money  before  its  removal?  to  which  you  reply  it 
cannot,  and  that  a  removal,  therefore,  must  be  the  fir?t  step.  In 
this,  however,  I  cannot  concur;  on  the  contrary,  I  am  satisfied 
that  congress  may  control  the  whole  matter.  Your  conclusions 
are  that  the  existing  grounds  for  removing  the  deposites  are  suf- 
ficient, and  that,  so  far,  congress  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
question ;  that  it  would  be  throwing  on  them  a  responsibilit}'^, 
not  belonging  to  them  but  to  another  branch  of  the  government; 
that  when  a  change  shall  be  made,  it  will  be  time  enough  to  sub- 
mit it  to  the  revision  of  congress,  but  that  until  the  change  be 
made  they  cannot  act.  But,  Sir,  I  cannot  concur  in  this  view 
of  the  subject;  the  positions  assumed,  I  humbly  conceive,  are 
untenable.  The  bank  charter  reserves  to  congress  the  right  to 
decide  after  removal,  whether  the  removal  was  proper  or  not. 
So  that  I  respectfully  contend  that  congress  have  a  right  to  de- 
cide whether  a  removal  should  or  should  not  be  made  at  a  future 
day,  for  they  are  to  judge  of  the  reasons.  Nor  do  I  admit  that 
the  responsibility  rests  upon  the  executive  branch  of  the  govern- 
ment; on  the  contrary  you  grant,  in  your  letter  of  the  26th  of 
June,  that  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  has  by  law  a  discretion, 
which  he  may  use  independently.  Independently  of  whom? 
Surely  of  every  authority  but  that  of  the  law,  and  of  congress  to 
whom  his  conduct  is  to  be  submitted.  I  may,  indeed,  be  in  er- 
ror, but  it  would  appear  to  me  to  be  at  least  singular,  that  the 
secretary  of  the  treasury  should  be  clothed  with  a  power,  which 
his  superiors  could  not  exercise,  guide,  or  control  without  his 
previous  action ;  that  if  they  should  think  the  public  funds  ia 
danger,  they  could  not  protect  them,  if  he  thought  otherwise. 
According  to  my  impressions,  the  power  of  congress  must  be 
wholly  unsuited  to  its  objects ;  if  it  may  not  be  exercised  to  in- 
struct its  agent  to  do,  or  how  to  do,  or  not  to  do,  the  act,  for 
which,  if  done,  he  is  obliged  to  give  them  his  reasons.  So  tliat 
in  the  absence  of  all  necessity,  I  desire  to  submit  the  question  of 
the  removal  of  the  deposites,  at  first y  to  those  who  are  to  decide 
upon  it  at  last.''^ 


Aflt 


( 


Whetlier  I  was  correct  or  not,  these  were  the  positions,  which 
I  maintained  in  discussion  with  the  President,  and  with  the  then 
attorney  general,  as  they  must  both  remember.  So  that  it  is 
wholly  fallacious  to  pretend,  either  that  I  declined  to  be  governed 
by  the  will  of  congress,  or  that  the  President  had  the  least  incli- 
nation to  await  their  action.  On  the  contrary,  if  the  official  pa- 
per is  to  be  credited,  the  President  determined  to  break  down 
the  bank,  ere  he  had  left  Tennessee,  and  of  course  long  before 
any  of  those  occurrences  took  place,  upon  which  he  rested  the 
propriety  of  removing  the  deposltes.  And  I  will  here  remark, 
that  this  hostility  could  not  have  been  founded  on  constitutional 
scruples,  for,  when  I  introduced  into  the  instructions  for  his 
agent,  a  declaration  that  the  President  was  opposed  to  any  na- 
tional bank,  he  struck  this  out,  and  substituted  a  declaration,  that 
he  was  only  opposed  to  an  institution  organized  upon  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  existing  bank,  a  declaration  meaning  any  thing  or 
nothing. 

Notwithstanding  the  facts,  which  I  have  stated  in  this  letter, 
the  official  paper  declares,  that  the  President  refused  to  listen  to 
any  application  for  delay,  because  he  considered  my  effort  "a 
mere  finesse"  "a  stratagem"  ''for  the  benefit  of  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States." 

I  ask  you,  fellow-citizens,  to  mark  this,  and  compare  it  with 
prior  declarations  of  the  same  paper.  Behold  the  character  given 
of  your  chief  magistrate  by  his  official  organ  !  Some  time  ago, 
it  asserted  that  the  President  had  been  uniformly  kind  to  me  ; 
and  I  admit  that  his  professions  were  occasionally  very  ardent, 
so  much  so  that  I  confess  I  thought  them  sincere  ;  I  also  admit, 
that  he  offered  the  mission  to  Russia  "to  save  the  feelings  and 
pride  of  myself,  family  and  friends."  But,  observe,  what  the  of- 
ficial paper  now  confesses.  It  declares  that  the  President  was  in 
secret  representing  me  to  "  the  agent  and  others,"  as  utterly  un- 
worthy of  confidence ;  at  the  very  time  when  he  was  professing 
the  utmost  friendship  to  myself!  In  the  cabinet  on  the  10th  of 
September,  in  particular,  the  President  declared,  "I  am  well 
pleased  with  you  all."  On  the  14th  and  18th  of  the  same  month, 
he  said  to  me,  "if  you  will  stand  by  me,  it  will  be  the  happiest 
day  of  my  life."  Yet  the  official  paper  of  the  7th  of  February  last 
shows,  that  the  President  was  defaming  me  in  private,  when  he 
was  in  company  with  "the  agent  and  others  ;" — he  was  doing  so, 
although  he  had  not  a  solitary  fact  to  excuse  even  suspicion  ! 


•^^if 


(     55      ) 

This  charge  of  duplicity  is  not  made  hy  me.  It  is  the  official 
paper  which  places  the  President  in  this  odious  position.  I  was 
his  early  and  disinterested  friend.  To  gratify  him  I  ahandoned 
my  home  and  business.  I  committed  no  offence,  unless  in  exer- 
cising independently  a  discretion,  which  the  President  promised 
I  should  so  exercise.  Yet,  if  his  official  paper  is  to  be  credited,  he 
was  secretly  assailing  the  reputation  of  one  of  the  members  of 
his  own  cabinet,  whom  he  daily  met  as  a  friend.  Which  am  I  to 
believe — what  he  said  to  me,  or  what  his  official  paper  now  as- 
serts ? 

W.  J.  DUANE. 

Philadelphia,  March  Sth,  1834. 


LETTER  VII. 


Fellow-Citizens  ; 

In  the  brief  defensive  address,  which  I  published  on  the  2d 
of  December  last,  I  stated  the  circumstances  connected  with  my 
removal  from  office  in  September.  So  that,  when,  in  my  recent 
letters  to  you,  I  reached  the  latter  period,  I  was  disposed  to  con- 
sider my  vindication  complete.  As,  however,  much  had  been  said 
in  the  President's  official  paper  respecting  my  refusal  to  resign, 
it  occurred  to  me  that  it  might  be  proper  to  be  more  explicit  on 
that  point,  and  to  state  unreservedly  the  incidents,  feelings,  and 
considerations,  which  led  to  that  result. 

If  I  had  entertained  any  doubts  as  to  the  propriety  of  further 
explanation  on  the  point  referred  to,  these  would  be  now  remov- 
ed. In  a  paper,  styled  a  "p)'ofesf,''  which  the  President,  on  the 
17th  inst.  sent  to  the  senate  and  caused  to  be  published  in  the 
newspapers,  there  is  a  new  demonstration  of  his  disposition  to 
injure  me.  Not  content  with  the  anonymous  slanders  published 
with  his  sanction  in  his  official  paper,  the  President,  in  his  "pro- 
test," has  gratuitously  and  insidiously  intimated,  that,  at  the 
time  of  my  removal  from  office,  "other  causes  sufficient  to  jus- 
tify it  existed,"  besides  my  refusal  to  remove  the  depositcs.  lie 
admits  that  I  was  removed  for  not  removing  the  deposites,  and 
that  my  removal  was  a  painful  alternative,  yet  he  insinuates  that 


(     56     ) 

"other  causes  to  justify  it  existed  !"  He  thus  barely  says  enough 
to  excite  suspicion,  but  refrains  from  any  explanation  that  might 
enable  me  to  repel,  as  I  have  hitherto  triumphantly  done,  every 
attack  upon  my  character. 

That  this  imputation  was  insidiously  made  must  be  obvious. 
It  was  not  necessary  on  the  public  account,  nor  was  it  material 
to  the  President's  defence.  If  "other  causes"  of  complaint  ex- 
isted, and  it  was  justifiable  to  refer  to  them  at  all,  the  reference 
should  have  been  explicit.  The  imputation,  however,  is  alto- 
gether vague;  and,  therefore,  as  a  "substitute  for  that  defence 
which  I  have  not  been  allowed  to  present  in  the  ordinary  form," 
I  deny  that  "other  causes  existed  to  justify"  my  removal  from 
office,  and  call  on  the  President  to  show  them  if  he  can. 

In  the  mean  time,  I  refer  to  the  letters  which  the  President 
wrote  to  me  in  September  last.  He  was  then  in  a  state  of  high 
excitement,  if  not  anger,  and  not  disposed  to  suppress  reproof. 
Until  he  shall  specify  "other  causes,"  therefore,  I  proceed  to 
notice  the  only  tangible  complaint  that  has  been  made,  namely, 
that  I  refused  to  retire  after  having  said  I  would  do  so ;  and  I 
feel  confident  that  my  refusal  will  be  pronounced  perfectly  justi- 
fiable. 


No  dispassionate  person  can  have  read  the  letters  which  I  have 
addressed  to  you  without  being  satisfied,  that  I  had  been  the 
early,  steadfast,  and  disinterested  friend  of  General  Jackson.  It 
must  be  equally  evident  that  I  reluctantly  left  the  shade  of  pri- 
vate life,  and  was  content  to  return  to  it  rather  than  execute  a 
measure  which  I  condemned.  I  think  it  must  be  apparent,  also, 
that  so  far  as  hopes  and  fears  could  have  had  an  influence,  there 
was  every  inducement  to  concur  with  the  President,  if  I  could 
do  so  consistently  with  my  obligations  to  the  country. 

I  had  scarcely  assumed  the  office  which  had  been  assigned  to 
me,  when  doubts  of  the  solidity  of  my  position  arose.  It  cer- 
tainly was  not  of  choice  that  I  concluded  that  the  President 
was  not  in  the  hands  of  his  constitutional  advisers.  The  convic- 
tion that  such  was  the  fact  was  forced  upon  me  by  evidence 
which  it  was  impossible  to  resist.  The  individuals  who  were 
the  first  to  announce  to  me  what  had  been  done,  and  what  was 
meditated,  upon  a  momentous  subject,  were  scarcely  known  to 
me.    As  I  have  already  stated,  one  of  them  gave  me  evidence 


(     57     ) 

of  his  intimacy  with  the  President,  of  the  most  conclusive  kind  ; 
and  if  another  did  not  personally  press  his  views  upon  me,  he 
sought  to  accomplish  his  purpose  in  a  way,  which  he  no  douht 
considered  equally  clBcicnt. 

The  majority  of  the  memhers  of  two  successive  cahinots  were 
opposed  to  a  removal  of  the  dcposites,  and  their  resistance  was 
successfully  combated  by  individuals  wiio  now  urged  me  to  enter 
into  their  views.  I  naturally  weighed  not  only  the  question  of 
the  dcposites  itself,  but  the  motives  of  the  rival  parties.  It  was 
impossible  to  attribute  the  course  of  the  cabinet  ministers  to  any 
sinister  purpose;  and  I  certainly  could  not  believe  that  their 
opponents  were  actuated  by  anxiety  either  for  the  liberties  or 
morals  of  the  people. 

No  public-spirited  individual,  so  far  as  I  knew,  called  for  the 
removal  of  the  dcposites.  All  the  letters  urging  the  measure,  of 
which  I  had  any  knowledge,  were  obviously  written  under  fac- 
tious and  selfish  influences.  The  persons,  whom  I  heard  named,  as 
prominently  connected  with  the  subject  in  agitation,  were  in  my 
estimation  gamblers,  at  least  in  politics  and  stocks. 

So  that  I  was  irresistibly  led  to  the  conviction,  not  only  that 
the  measure  proposed  was  pernicious  in  its  nature  and  tendency, 
but  that  it  was  successfully  urged  upon  the  President  by  a  cabal, 
in  opposition  to  his  constitutional  advisers.  The  experience  of 
every  succeeding  day  gave  new  strength  to  this  conclusion.  I 
doubt  whether  there  was  a  solitary  spontaneous  movement  made 
by  the  President  upon  the  subject.  I  do  not  believe  there  was 
more  than  one  paper  addressed  to  me,  or  to  the  public,  with 
his  signature,  which  was  not  from  the  pen  of  one  of  the  irre- 
sponsible persons  referred  to.  If  any  doubt  as  to  this  sinister 
influence  can  still  exist,  it  must  be  removed  by  a  reference  to  the 
official  paper  of  the  7th  of  February  last;  wherein  an  intimate 
intercourse  between  the  President  and  his  ''agent"  and  "others," 
is  explicitly  asserted. 

It  may  be  true  that  the  predecessors  of  General  Jackson  con- 
sidered themselves  at  liberty  to  seek  for  information  out  of  the 
cabinet;  but  if  they  did  so,  whom  did  they  consult,  and  with 
what  view  was  information  given?  The  objection  is  not  that  the 
^President  should  have  confidential  friends,  but  that  they  should 
be  individuals,  whose  intimacy  he  is  unwilling  to  acknowledge. 
If  the  object  of  private  conference  was  laudable,  and  if  the  per- 
sons consulted  were  virtuous  and  wise,  there  would  be  no  occa- 

H 


'^  -{58) 

sion  for  concealment,  nor  ground  for  so  much  anger  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  a  cabal. 

Being  satisfied  that  a  cabal  did  exist,  I  considered  it  my  duty  to 
the  President  as  well  as  to  the  country  to  resist  it.  My  resist- 
ance, however,  was  not  made  by  covert  means,  but  by  an  appeal 
to  the  President  in  my  letter  of  the  10th  of  July.  So  little  effect 
did  that  appeal  produce,  that  it  was  followed  by  the  first  breach 
of  faith  on  the  part  of  the  executive,  of  which  I  have  reason  to 
complain.  The  President  spontaneously  assured  me,  in  his  let- 
ter from  Boston  of  the  26th  of  June,  that  I  might  independently 
exercise  the  discretion,  as  to  the  deposites,  conferred  on  the  se- 
cretary of  the  treasury  by  law ;  yet  he  utterly  disregarded  this 
promise,  and  never  attempted  to  excuse  its  violation. 

This  was  soon  after  followed  by  another  breach  of  faith  on  the 
part  of  the  President.  In  his  letter  to  me  of  the  22d  of  July, 
while  he  still  held  in  his  hands  the  instructions  that  I  had  drawn 
up  for  his  agent,  he  objected  to  the  concluding  paragraph  thereof 
only,  and  did  not  intimate  a  desire  to  alter  them  otherwise.  On 
the  contrary  he  declared  that  there  was  to  be  "a  full  considera- 
tion of  all  matters  connected  with  the  substitution  of  another  fis- 
cal agent"  for  the  United  States  Bank.  Trusting  to  this  declara- 
tion, I  expressed  in  my  reply  of  the  same  date  my  willingness 
to  retire,  "  if,  after  receiving  the  information"  to  be  collected 
by  the  agent,  I  could  not  concur  with  the  President.  Immedi- 
ately after  this  assurance  was  given,  the  letter  of  instruction  to 
the  agent  was  altered  by  the  President,  so  as  to  forbid  the  col- 
lection of  the  very  information,  which  I  deemed  chiefly  important 
to  ''a  full  consideration"  of  the  subject.  It  is  thus  evident  that 
my  assurance  to  retire  was  conditional ;  it  rested  on  the  condition, 
that  the  information,  contemplated  by  the  instructions  as  exist- 
ing when  I  gave  the  assurance,  should  be  collected.  The  con- 
dition not  being  complied  with,  I  was  clearly  absolved  from  all 
obli2;ation  to  observe  my  promise. 

That  I  was  fully  justified  in  connecting  my  assurance  to  retire 
with  the  condition  here  mentioned  can  be  easily  shown.  My 
view  of  the  propriety  of  retiring,  in  case  I  should  not  be  able  to 
concur,  was  based  upon  the  expectation,  that  the  amicable  discus- 
sion, which  was  then  going  on  between  the  President  and  myself, 
was  to  be  conducted  with  entire  fairness,  without  suppression  of 
facts  and  apart  from  sinister  influences;  and  if  it  had  been  so 
conducted  I  stood  ready  to  redeem  my  promise.    But  in  a  con- 


trary  state  of  things  I  could  not  be  expected  to  resign  ;  and  henre 
I  was  rij^jht  in  connectinp;  my  assurance  with  the  condition  that 
information  should  be, collected  by  the  agent,  necessar)-  for  the 
full  consideration  of  all  matters  connected  with  the  |)roposed 
change  of  the  fiscal  agent. 

As  I  stated  to  you,  fellow-citizens,  in  my  fifth  letter,  as  soon 
as  the  President  forbade  his  agent  to  collect  the  information  on  i 
which  1  chiefly  relied,  my  confidence  began  to  waver.  I  had 
treated  the  President  as  an  honourable  friend  ;  but  I  now  found 
that  his  crafty  advisers  determined  to  make  me  their  instrument, 
or  else  to  effect  my  removal  from  office.  Doubts  arose,  whether 
I  had  not  been  indiscreet  in  giving  any  assurance  at  all ;  and 
whether  I  was  under  an  obligation  to  observe  that  which  had 
been  given,  after  the  circumstances  under  which  it  had  been  made 
had  been  changed  by  the  President. 

My  mind  was  filled  with  these  doubts,  when  other  considera- 
tions presented  themselves.  By  voluntarily  retiring,  I  might  re- 
linquish the  right  of  publicly  defending  myself  when  assailed; 
and  that  I  should  be  attacked,  I  was  well  convinced  from  what  I 
already  knew.  As  soon  as  it  was  understood  that  1  resisted  a  re- 
moval of  the  deposites,  cowardly  menaces  and  foul  insinuations 
appeared  in  newspapers  of  a  particular  class  in  various  parts  of 
the  Union.  I  was  satisfied  that  those  publications  originated  at 
Washington ;  and  it  was  at  length  formally  announced,  not  only 
to  myself,  but  to  the  President,  that  his  <<  agent,"  Mr.  Amos 
Kendall,  while  on  his  mission  to  the  state  banks,  had  stimulated 
similar  attacks.  To  such  an  extent,  indeed,  was  this  shameful 
course  pursued,  that  I  was  not  sure  that  the  mind  of  the  Presi- 
dent himself  was  not  the  seat  of  dissatisfaction  or  distrust.  Ac- 
cordingly, to  remove  all  doubt,  I  waited  upon  him  on  the  14th 
of  September,  expressly  to  inquire,  whether  he  had  any  com- 
plaint to  make  in  relation  to  my  conduct,  and  whether  any  one 
had  dared  to  call  my  motives  in  question.  To  my  several  inqui- 
ries the  President  gavea  negative  reply  in  the  most  emphatic  terms, 
declaring  that  his  friendship  and  confidence  were  undiminished. 

It  cannot  be  supposed  that  I  then  disbelieved  the  President; 
nor  need  I  now  decide  upon  his  sincerity.  It  is  impossible,  how- 
ever, to  pass  this  incident  wholly  in  silence.  In  the  official  paper 
of  the  7th  of  February  last,  it  is  asserted,  that  early  in  September 
the  President  declared  to  <'the  agent"  and  "others,"  that  1  was 
in  league  with  the  United  States  Bank  to  thwart  him — that  is,  at 


^ 


(     60' 

the  very  time  he  was  professing  to  myself  unabated  confidence 
and  almost  parental  kindness  ! 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  relations  between  the  President  and 
myself,  when,  after  his  exposition  had  been  read  in  cabinet  on 
the  ISlh  of  September,  he  delivered  that  document  to  me  for 
consideration.  When  I  retired,  I  had  to  consider  not  merely 
whether  I  ought  to  remove  the  deposites,  but  whether  it  was 
my  duty  to  resign.  I  was  sensible  that  I  had  erred  in  giving  any 
assurance  on  the  subject,  and  doubted  whether  subsequent  occur- 
rences had  not  absolved  me  from  all  obligation  to  respect  it.  I 
desired  to  avoid  a  surrender  of  an  important  post,  and  yet  wished 
to  part  from  the  President  without  unkind  feeling.  It  occurred  to 
me  that  I  might  accomplish  both  these  ends  by  asking  for  a  writ- 
ten expression  of  the  President's  wish  that  I  should  retire  ;  and 
in  giving  me  such  a  memorandum,  I  did  not  perceive  that  there 
would  be  any  committal  of  himself.  It  seemed  to  me  that,  assail- 
ed as  I  had  been,  and  menaced  with  new  attacks,  the  President, 
if  really  my  friend,  would  not  desire  to  tie  up  my  hands. 

I  was  reflecting  upon  these  points,  when  early  on  the  morning 
of  the  19th  of  September,  the  President  sent  to  inquire  whether 
I  had  come  to  a  decision.  I  replied  that  I  would  communicate  it 
on  the  21st.  On  the  morning  of  the  same  day  (19th),  the  Presi- 
dent's secretary  called  on  me  to  state,  that  the  President  had  de- 
termined to  announce  the  decision  on  the  deposite  question  in  the 
Globe  of  the  next  day.  He  then  proposed  to  read  to  me  a  paper 
prepared  for  that  purpose ;  but  I  refused  to  listen  to  it,  stating  that 
I  had  the  President's  exposition  then  before  me,  and  was  prepar- 
ing a  defensive  paper  on  my  own  part ;  that  the  President  ought 
to  wait  one  day  longer  to  enable  me  to  present  that  paper  ;  and 
that  any  such  publication  in  the  Globe  as  was  proposed  would 
be  a  gross  indignity  to  me  as  an  officer  and  a  man.  The  secretary 
said,  he  believed  the  President  would  proceed,  that  the  New 
York  Evening  Post  was  urging  a  decision,  and  that  as  to  himself 
he  had  no  wish  to  express.  I  then  delivered  to  him  a  written  re- 
monstrance against  the  proposed  publication.  [See  Appendix  B.] 

On  the  following  day,  20th  of  September,  the  decision,  that  the 
deposites  would  be  removed  on  or  before  the  1st  of  October  was 
officially  announced.  [See  Appendix  C] 

On  seeing  this  announcement,  all  doubt  as  to  my  proper  course 
vanished.  I  not  only  persisted  in  my  uniform  determination  not 
to  remove  the  deposites,  but  I  now  resolved  not  to  resign.   Put- 


•  Wr-^ 


ting  aside  the  defensive  exposition,  which  I  had  now  nearly 
completed,  I  wrote  on  the  21st  of  September  a  brief  emphatic 
letter,  [see  Appendix  D,J  and  on  that  day  personally  presented 
it  to  the  President.  On^lhat  occasion,  I  refused  "  to  aid,  assist 
or  in  any  way  participate  in  the  proposed  change  of  the  public 
depository."  I  also  refused  to  resign;  and,  '<  without  in  the 
most  remote  degree  meaning  any  sort  of  disrespect  to  the  Presi- 
dent, I  protested  against  his  interference  with  powers  and  duties, 
which  I  believed  were  designedly  withheld  from  him,  and  com- 
mitted to  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  the  fiscal  agent  of  the 
law."  A  long  conversation  ensued,  the  particulars  of  which  I 
have  it  in  my  power  minutely  to  state;  but  as  I  have  throughout 
my  narrative  avoided  all  reference  to  conversations,  unless  in- 
dispensably necessary,  I  shall  adhere  to  that  course  still.  I  will 
barely  add,  that  I  made  the  suggestion,  heretofore  alluded  to, 
that  a  memorandum  should  be  given  to  me  to  retire:  this  I  con- 
sidered would  be  a  shield  to  myself,  and  would  prevent  any  un- 
kind feeling  on  either  side.  The  President,  however,  insisted 
upon  an  unconditional  surrender,  to  which  I  would  not  submit, 
and  we  separated. 

Such  is  a  brief  view  of  some  of  the  incidents,  feelings  on  my 
part,  and  considerations,  which  led  to  my  refusal  to  resign.  For  a 
further  explanation  I  refer  to  my  letter  of  the  21st  of  September, 
[Appendix  D].  As  to  the  imputation  of  the  official  paper,  that, 
when  I  consented  to  retire,  I  meditated  a  non-compliance,  it  is 
contradicted  by  the  tenor  of  my  whole  life,  as  well  as  by  the  par- 
ticular facts  of  the  case.  I  erred,  perhaps,  in  giving  any  assurance 
whatever  ;  for  although  it  was  given  on  a  condition  wiiich  was 
never  fulfilled  by  the  President,  and  although  annulled  in  fact  by 
the  outrage  on  my  feelings  of  announcing,  without  my  consent,  the 
decision  of  the  deposite  question,  while  I  was  still  secretary  of  the 
treasury  ;  yet  the  fact  of  there  having  been  a  ])romise,  has  given  a 
colourable  ground  to  my  traduccrs  for  charging  me  with  bad  faith. 
But  even  supposing  for  a  moment  that  my  conditional  assurance  to 
retire  was  in  full  force  on  the  21st  of  September,  still  the  President 
did  not  give  me  the  opportunity  of  choosing  between  the  alterna- 
tives presented  in  my  letter  of  the  22d  of  July.  In  that  letter  I 
had  said,  that  <'  when  the  moment  for  decision,  after  inquiry  and 
'  discussion,  should  arrive,  I  would  concur  or  retire."  On  the  19th 
of  September  I  required  until  the  21st  to  present  my  decision. 
By  taking,  on  the  20th  of  September,  the  arbitrary  and  illegal 


{    152 


) 


course  of  announcing  tlic  intended  removal  of  the  deposites, 
while,  as  secretary  of  the  treasury,  I  yet  held  the  President's 
exposition  in  my  hands  for  consideration,  he  forestalled  my  de- 
cision, and,  by  the  affront  thus  put  upon  me,  absolved  me  from 
all  obliiiation  whatever. 

Thus,  fellow-citizens,  after  having  been  allured  from  my  home 
and  business;  after  having  been  promised  that  I  imghiindepen- 
dently  exercise  the  discretion  conferred  on  me  as  an  officer  by 
law  ;  after  having  struggled  against  a  selfish  cabal ;  after  having 
endured  every  thing  but  a  direct  affront,  it  is  pretended,  that, 
when  that  affront  was  given,  1  was  bound  to  gratify  the  very  ob- 
ject of  those  who  insulted  me,  by  tamely  relinquishing  office  by 
a  voluntary  act,  when  such  a  course  would  have  deprived  me  of 
the  right  of  self-defence,  the  privilege  which  you  now  see  is  so 
essential  to  my  safety. 

W.  J.  DUANE. 

Philadelphia,  April  2\st,  1834.  ^ 


'^' 


m: 


♦   A 


APPEXDIX. 


4h 


if 


A. 

The  official  paper  having];  called  in  question  the  genuineness 
of  the  letter,  from  which  this  extract  was  taken,  as  well  as  re- 
peated the  assertion  that  I  had  made  a  proposition  to  the  Presi- 
dent, I  addressed  this  note  to  the  editor  of  the  Commercial  In- 
telligencer : — 

<4SiR — There  is  in  the  President's  official  paper  of  Ihe  15th 
inst.  an  article,  which  bears  the  executive  stamp,  and  I  therefore 
notice  it.  Commenting  upon  a  part  of  my  sixth  letter,  recently 
addressed  to  the  people  of  the  United  States,  it  says  : — 

"  •  It  is  understood  Mr.  Duane  had  proposed  in  person  to  the  President,  that 
"  '  if  he  would  postpone  the  removal  of  the  deposites  until  the  1st  of  January, 
"  •  he  would  then  comply  with  iiis  wishes.' 

"There  is  no  foundation  for  this  statement. 
<'  The  official  paper  proceeds  : — 

"_♦  It  was  afterwards  distinctly,  submitted  as  a  formal  proposition,  and  as  a 
*•  •  Hieaiis  of  uniting  liie  whole  cabi'iet  in  the  siipporl  of  llie  measure,  tliut  an 
•'  *  application  should  be  made  to  congress  to  act  in  the  matter — the  measure 
"  •  to  be  taken  in  the  event  of  congress  r<>/u,«n^'-  to  do  any  thinjj  on  the  subject.' 

<<It  is  enough  for  me  to  say,  I  submitted  no  such  formal  pro- 
position. What  others  may  have  done  or  omitted  ought  not  to  be 
conjectured,  much  less  believed,  on  the  authority  of  the  official 
paper.  ^ 

"In  my  sixth  letter  to  the  people,  in  order  to  show  the  con-- 
sistency  of  my  course,  I  quoted  a  letter  which  I  wrote  on  the  Slh 
of  September  to  a  member  of  the  cabinet.  The  official  paper  says 
the  President  never  heard  of  such  a  letter,  and  tliis  may  be  true. 
Iiut  when  it  says  <  no  member  of  the  cabinet  has  any  knowledge 
of  his  [Mr.  DuancJ  having  written  siich  a  letter,'  the  official  pa- 
per speaks  without  authority. 

"Here  I  might  rest,  and  call  on  the  official  paper  to  produce 
its  authority  for  this  alleged  denial  of  knowledge.  But  there  is 
no  occasion  for  special  pleading.  I  have  had  no  secrets  nor  am  I 
aware  that  others  have  had  any — all  thai  I  wrote  and  spoke  while 
I  was  in  office,  1  should  be  glad  to  see  printed  and  in  the  hands 


■^- 


(     64     ) 


of  my  fellow-citizens.   I  proceed,  therefore,  to  the  subject  now  in 
question. 

''The  cabinet  was  divided  on  the  measure  of  the  proposed  re- 
moval of  the  deposites,  two  members  for  removal,  and  four  against 
it.  It  was  the  desire,  as  well  as  the  duty  of  the  constitutional  ad- 
visers of  the  President  to  produce  unity  of  action  if  possible.  The 
President  himself  said  to  them,  'I  want  harmony,  gentlemen  ;  I 
do  not  want  to  lose  any  of  you  ;  1  am  pleased  with  you  all.'  Con- 
versations between  the  members  of  the  cabinet  necessarily  took 
place.  On  one  occasion  the  President  himself  recommended  them 
to  confer  together.  It  was  naturally  desired,  that  my  views  should 
be  distinctly  understood.  The  possibility  of  some  middle  course, 
or  compromise,  was  spoken  of  with  a  view,  perhaps,  to  obtain  the 
President's  concurrence.  After  an  anxious  conversation  on  the 
general  subject  between  the  secretary  of  state  and  myself,  at  his 
instance,  and  as  I  understood  with  a  view  to  explanation  with  other 
members  of  the  cabinet,  I  wrote  a  letter,  of  which  I  will  now  lay 
before  you  a  copy.  Prefixed  to  this  letter  there  were  extracts 
quoted  from  official  documents,  for  the  purpose  of  elucidation.  In 
the  draught  of  my  letter,  I  did  not  copy  those  extracts  ;  I  merely 
stated  at  the  head  of  the  draught,  '  [Extracts  as  to  continuance 
of  deposites].'  Of  the  letter  itself,  the  following  is  a  copy  ;  the 
original  is,  no  doubt,  in  the  hands  of  the  secretary  of  state. 

"  <  Dear  Sir — The  foregoing  are  the  extracts,  the  force  of  which 
you  consider  greater  than  I  do.  My  conviction  has  been  and  is, 
that  no  cause  for  a  change  of  the  depository  does  exist,  such  as 
warrants  the  exercise  of  the  power  of  the  secretary  of  the  trea- 
sury ;  that  until  adequate  cause  to  change  shall  arise,  it  will 
be  his  duty  to  deposite  as  at  present,  unless  congress  shall  other- 
wise direct :  so  that  I  can  give  no  assurances  but  these — I  will 
change  the  depository  as  soon  as  congress  shall  direct  me  to  do 
so,  or  as  soon  as  such  cause  shall  arise  as  will  in  my  judgment 
justify  the  act :  but  if  congress  shall  not  sanction  a  removal  of  the 
deposites  (that  is,  do  so  previous  to  removal)  I  am  not  at  liberty 
to  say  that  I  will  act  at  a  given  time,  for  I  do  not  know  that  at 
that  time  there  will  be  any  more  cause  than  there  is  now  for  a 

change.  • 

"  <  This  is  the  result  of  reflection  since  I  saw  you  last  evening. 
I  will  respectfully  and  without  bias  listen  to  what  may  be  said 
hereafter,  but  I  have  no  expectation  of  varying  in  the  least  from 
my  present  position.  I  am  willing,  and  ready,  and  anxious  to  go 
home,  as  soon  as  the  President  shall  say  such  is  his  preference, 
rather  than  do  what  I  should  ever  after  regret  and  condemn.      JJ| 

<Most  kindly  and  respectfully  yours,  '^ 

^  '  W.  J.  DUANE.  » 

<  Hon.  L.  M'Lane,  &c.'       "* 


isjb 


mJ 


(     65     ) 


M 


"Whether  this  letter,  or  its  nature,  was  made  known  to  the 
President,  I  do  not  know.  Probably  it  was  not,  as  its  assurances 
presented  no  course  that  might  be  considered  middle,  or  likely 
to  be  acceded  to.  All  tliat  it  becomes  me  to  do  is  to  present  the 
letter  as  written.  ^. 

t   J  <' W.  J.  DUANE.  *- 

''March  19,  1834."  >^ 

The  official  paper  of  the  24/A  of  March,  commenting  upon 
the  foregoing  letter,  asserted,  that  it  previou.sly  "  had  assurances 
from  all  the  members  of  the  cabinet,  disclaiming  any  knowledge 
on  their  part  of  the  letter"  of  the  Sth  of  September,  above  quoted ; 
^^  and  added,  "such  assurances  we  now  have."  On  the  26th  of 
March,  the  following  note  appeared  in  the  official  paper  : — 

"  JVashins^ton,  March  25th,  1834. 
"  To  Mr.  Blair,  Editor  of  the  Globe  : 

♦P"*  "  In  an  editorial  article  in  the  *  Globe'  of  yesterday,  relative  to 
a  recent  letter  of  Mr.  Duane  to  the  Commercial  Intelligencer,  it 
is  among  other  things,  stated,  'that  we  had  assurances  from  all 
the  members  of  the  cabinet,  disclaiming  any  knowledge  on  their 
part,  of  the  letter  to  which  Mr.  Duane  has  referred,'  &:c.  ;  and  it 
is  also  stated,  <such  assurances  we  now  have.' 

"Being  disappointed  in  the  expectation  that  the  <  Globe'  of  this 
morning  would  have  contained  such  an  explanation  as  would  re- 
move the  misapprehension  which  the  statement  is  calculated  to 
produce,  I  deem  it  proper  to  inform  the  public  that  I  have  at  no 
time  had  any  personal  or  written  communication  with  the  editor 
of  the  'Globe'  on  the  subject,  and  have  given  him  no  assurances 
in  regard  to  Mr.  Duanc's  letter.  It  is  true  that,  upon  one  occa- 
sion, immediately  after  the  appearance  of  Mr.  Duane's  sixth  let- 
ter, I  stated  to  one  gentleman,  in  answer  to  an  inquiry  from  him, 
that  I  had  then  no  recollection  of  receiving  from  JNIr.  Duane  such 
a  letter  as  he  had  referred  to,  but  that  it  was  not  impossible  that 
he  had  written,  and  that  I  had  received  it ;  because  I  remembered 
that  I  had  held  with  him  the  conversation  to  which  he  alluded, 
and  that,  remaining  silent  at  the  time,  he  returned  me  the  next 
morning,  or  soon  afterwards,  an  answer — according  to  my  recol- 
lection, a  verbal  one — substantially  the  same  as  that  which  it  was 
asserted  his  letter  contained.  On  the  same  occasion,  I  particularly 
urged  that  no  notice  should  be  taken  of  it  in  the  '  Globe.' 
L  "I  have  only  to  add,  that  since  Mr.  Duane's  recent  letter,  I 

W       have  given  no  assurances  to  any  one,  nor  expressed  any  doubt 
,^     that  Mr.  Duane  wrote  the  letter  according  to  his  statement;  but 
w     neither  that  letter,  nor  any  thing  that  passed  between  Mr.  Duan6 
and  myself  on  the  subject,  was  communicated  by  me  to  the  Pre- 
sident. 

"  1  am,  your  obedient  servant, 

"LOUIS  M'LANE." 
I 


(      66     ) 

"A.  J.  DoNELsoN,  Esq.  ' 

<'Dear  Sir — 
"  The  world  is  so  censorious,  that  I  am  obliged  upon  reflection 
to  express  to  you  my  hope,  that  you  will  not  regard  me  as  ap- 
proving of  any  publication  ;  it  would  seem  to  be  but  delicate  to 
defer  such  an  act,  until  I  shall  either  concur  or  decline  ;  how- 
ever, all  that  I  desire  to  have  understood  is,  that  I  do  not  approve 
of  the  course  you  mentioned.  Were  I  the  President,  I  would 
consult,  at  least  reasonably,  the  feelings  of  a  man,  who  has  al- 
ready anxiety  enough.  As  to  the  newspapers,  they  will  know 
what  has  been  done,  without  an  official  communication. 

"Very  respectfully,  yours, 

"  W.  J.  DUANE. 
''September  19th,  1833." 


From  the  Globe  of  Friday,  September  20th,  1833. 

"We  are  authorized  to  state  that  the  deposites  of  the  public 
money  will  be  changed,  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  to 
the  State  Banks,  as  soon  as  necessary  arrangements  can  be  made 
for  that  purpose,  and  that  it  is  believed  they  can  be  completed  in 
Baltimore,  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  Boston,  in  time  to 
make  the  change  by  the  1st  of  October,  and  perhaps  sooner,  if 
circumstances  should  render  an  earlier  action  necessary  on  the 
part  of  the  government. 

"It  is  contemplated,  we  understand,  not  to  remove  at  once, 
the  whole  of  the  public  money  now  in  deposite  in  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States,  but  to  suffer  it  to  remain  there  until  it  shall 
be  gradually  withdrawn  by  the  usual  operation  of  the  govern- 
ment. And  this  plan  is  adopted  in  order  to  prevent  any  neces- 
sity, on  the  part  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  for  pressing 
upon  the  commercial  community ;  and  to  enable  it  to  afford,  if  it 
think  proper,  the  usual  facilities  to  the  merchants.  It  is  believed, 
that  by  this  means  the  change  need  not  produce  any  inconveni- 
ence to  the  commercial  community,  and  that  circumstances  will 
not  require  a  sudden  and  heavy  call  on  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States,  so  as  to  occasion  embarrassment  to  the  institution  or  the 
public." 

The  agency  of  the  President,  as  to  the  removal  of  the  depo- 
sites, and  the  above  quoted  annunciation,  appears  from  the  fol- 
lowing note  addressed  to  me  by  the  President's  secretary.  It 
also  appears  from  this  note,  that  at  the  time  the  intended  removal 
of  the  deposites  was  announced,  I  held  in  my  hands  the  exposi- 
tion which  had  been  read  in  the  cabinet  on  the  18th  of  September. 


*    mL-7! 


''September  2\sf,  1833. 
"  Dear  Sib  — 
"The  PresidiMit  has  rfqiiestcd  mo  lo  call  upon  you  this  morn- 
ing, and  ask  for  tlie  paoer  containing;  his  decision  of  the  question 
of  the  dcposites.  IJcin^oo  unwell  to  walk  down  to  )'Our  odice, 
I  must  communicate  the  President's  wish  in  this  form.  He  de- 
sires to  refer  to  the  paper  in  preparino;  for  the  public  a  full  ac- 
count of  the  reasons  which  have  letl  him  to  ado])t  the  step  which 
has'been  already  announced. 

:       "Yours,  truly, 

''A.  J.  DONELSON. 
<'HoN.  W.  J.  DuANE,  Secretart  of  the  Treasury." 


D. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  the  President  of  the  United 

States. 

Treasury  Department,  September  2\st,  1833. 

Sir — I  have  the  honour  to  lay  before  you  : 

1.  A  copy  of  my  commission,  empowering  and  enjoining  me 
to  execute  my  duly  according  to  law,  and  authorizing  me  to 
hold  my  office  at  your  pleasure. 

2.  A  copy  of  my  oath  of  office,  wherein  I  solemnly  pledged 
myself  to  execute  the  trust  committed  to  me  with  fidelity. 

3.  A  copy  of  the  16th  section  of  the  law  chartering  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States,  whereby  the  discretion  to  discontinue  the 
deposites  of  the  public  money  in  that  bank,  was  committed  to 
the  secretary  of  the  treasury  alone. 

4.  An  extract  from  your  letter  to  me  of  the  26th  of  June, 
wherein  you  promise  not  to  interfere  with  the  independent  ex- 
ercise of  the  discretion,  committed  to  me  by  the  above  mention- 
ed law  over  the  subject.  ^ 

5.  An  extract  from  your  exposition  of  the  ISth  inst.,  wherein 
you  state,  that  you  do  not  expect  me,  at  your  request,  order,  or 
dictation,  to  do  any  act  which  I  may  believe  to  be  illegal,  or 
which  my  conscience  may  condemn. 

When  you  delivered  to  me,  on  the  ISth  inst.,  the  exposition 
of  your  views,  above  referred  to,  1  asked  you  whetiier  1  was  to 
regard  it  as  direction,  by  you  to  me,  to  remove  the  depo^tes. 
You  replied  that  it  was  your  direction  to  me  to  remove  the  de- 
posites, but  upon  your  responsibility ;  and  you  had  the  goodness 
|to  add,  that,  if  I  would  stand  by  you,  it  would  be  the  happiest 
day  of  your  life.  * 

Solemnly  impressed  with  a  profound  sense  of  my  obligations 
to  my  country  and  myself,  after  painful  reflection,  and  upon  my 
own  impressions,  unaided  by  any  advice  such  as  I  expected,  1 


(     68     ) 

respectful!}'  announce  to  you,  Sir,  that  I  refuse  to  carry  your 
directions  into  effect: 

Not  because  I  desire  to  frustrate  your  wishes  ;  for  it  would  be 
my  pleasure  to  promote  them,  if  I  could  do  so,  consistently  with 
superior  obligations. 

Not  because  I  desire  to  favour  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
to  which  I  have  ever  been,  am,  and  ever  shall  be  opposed. 

Not  to  gratify  any  views,  passions,  or  feelings  of  my  own — 
but  ?, 

1.  Because  I  consider  the  proposed  change  of  the  depository, 
in  the  absence  of  all  necessity,  a  breach  of  the  public  faith. 

2.  Because  the  measure^  if  not  in  reality,  appears  to  be  vin- 
dictive and  arbitrary,  not  conservative  or  just. 

3.  Because,  if  the  bank  has  abused  or  perverted  its  powers, 
the  judiciary  are  able  and  willing  to  punish;  and  in  the  last  re- 
sort, the  representatives  of  the  people  may  do  so. 

4.  Because  the  last  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 
States  pronounced  the  public  money  in  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  safe. 

5.  Because,  if  under  new  circumstances,  a  change  of  deposi- 
tory ought  to  be  made,  the  representatives  of  the  people,  chosen 
since  your  appeal  to  them  in  your  veto  message,  will  in  a  few 
weeks  assemble,  and  be  willing  and  able  to  do  their  duty.' 

6.  Because  a  change  to  local  and  irresponsible  banks  will 
tend  to  shake  public  confidence,  and  promote  doubt  and  mischief 
in  the  operations  of  society. 

7.  Because  it  is  not  sound  policy  in  the  Union  to  foster  local 
banks,  which,  in  their  multiplication  and  cupidity,  derange,  de- 
preciate and  banish  the  only  currency  known  to  the  constitution, 
that  of  gold  and  silver. 

S.  Because  it  is  not  prudent  to  confide,  in  the  crude  way  pro- 
posed by  your  agent,  in  local  banks;  when  on  an  average  of  all 
the  banks,  dependent  in  a  great  degree  upon  each  other,  one 
dollar  in  silver  cannot  be  paid  for  six  dollars  of  the  paper  in  cir- 
culation. 

9.  Because  it  is  dangerous  to  place  in  the  hands  of  a  secretary 
of  the  treasury,  dependent  for  office  on  executive  will,  a  power 
to  favour  or  punish  local  banks,  and  consequently  make  them 
political  machinery. 

10.  Because  the  whole  proceeding  must  tend  to  diminish  the 
confidence  of  the  world  in  our  regard  for  national  credit  and  re- 
putation ;  inasmuch  as,  whatever  may  be  the  abuses  of  the  Di- 
rectors of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  the  evil  now  to  be  en- 
dured must  be  borne  by  innocent  persons,  many  of  whom,  abroad, 
had  a  right  to  confide  in  the  law  that  authorized  them  to  be  hold- 
ers of  stock. 

1 1.  Because  I  believe  that  the  efforts  made  in  various  quarters 


(     69     ) 

to  hasten  the  removal  of  the  deposites,  did  not  ori<^inate  with 
patriots  or  statesmen,  tut  in  schemes  to  promote  selfish  and  fac- 
tious purposes. 

12.  Because  it^lias  ^ccn  attempfrd  by  persons  and  presses 
known  to  be  in  the  confidence  and  pay  of  the  administration,  to 
intimidate  and  constrain  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  to  execute 
an  act  in  direct  opposition  to  his  own  solemn  convictions. 

And  now,  sir,  having  with  a  frankness  that  means  no  disre- 
spcaL  and  with  feelings  such  as  I  lately  declared  them  to  be, 
staajpto  you  why  I  refuse  to  execute  what  you  direct ;  I  proce(/d 
to  perform  a  necessarily  connected  act  of  duty,  by  announcing 
to  you,  that  I  do  not  intend  voluntarily  to  leave  the  post,  which 
the  law  has  placed  under  my  charge,  and  by  giving  you  my  rea- 
sons for  so  refusing.  ^ 

It  is  true,  that,  on  the  22d  of  July,  you  signified  in  language 
sufficiently  intelligible,  that  you  would  then  remove  me  from 
office,  unless  I  would  consent  to  remove  the  deposites,  on  your 
final  decision.  It  may  also  be  true  that  I  should  then  have  put 
it  to  the  test;  and  it  is  also  true,  that  under  a  well  grounded  as- 
surance, that  your  bank  plan,  the  only  one  then  embodied  in  the 
instructions  drawn  up  by  me  for  your  agent,  would  be,  as  it 
proved,  abortive,  that  for  this  and  other  causes,  you  would  be 
content,  I  did  state  my  willii.gness  to  retire,  if  I  could  not  con- 
cur with  you.  * 

But  I  am  not  afraid  to  meet  the  verdict  of  generous  men,  upon 
ray  refusal,  on  reflection,  and  after  what  has  since  occurred,  to 
do  voluntarily  what  I  tlien  believed  I  never  should  be  asked  to 
do.  If  I  had  a  frail  reputation,  or  had  any  sinister  purpose  to 
answer,  I  might  be  open  to  censure,  for  a  neglect  of  punctilious 
delicacy;  but  I  can  have  no  impure  motives,  much  less  can  I 
attain  any  selfish  end.  I  barely  choose  between  one  mode  of  re- 
tirement and  another;  and  I  choose  that  mode,  which  I  should 
least  of  all  have  preferred,  if  I  had  not  exalted  and  redeeming 
considerations  in  its  favour. 

I  bave,  besides,  your  own  example:  I  do  not  say,  that,  after 
you  had  promised  "not  to  interfere  with  the  independent  exer- 
cise of  the  discretion  vested  in  me  by  law,"  you  were  wrong  in" 
interfering,  if  you  really  thought  the  public  welfare  a  superior 
consideration  to  a  mere  observance  of  assurances  made  to  me ; 
nor  can  you  say  thai  1  err,  when,  upon  a  solemn  sense  of  duly, 
I  prefer  one  mode  of  removal  from  this  station  to  another. 

The  course  is  due  to  my  own  self-preservation,  as  well  as  to 
the  public;  for  you  have  in  all  your  papers  held  out  an  assur- 
■^ance,  that  you  would  not  "interfere  with  the  independent  exer- 
cise of  the  discretion  committed  to  me  by  law''  over  the  depo- 
sites; and  yet,  every  thing  but  actual  removal  of  me  from  office, 
^     has  been  done  to  effect  that  end.    So  that,  were  I  to  go  out  of 


JT  ^-T-       PtO^I        = ^""""^ '-^ 

""  office  voluntarily,  you  might  be  able  to  point  to  official  papers, 
that  would  contradict  me,  if  I  said  you  interfered;  and  I  should 
thus  be  held  up  as  a  weak  and  faithless  agent,  who  regarded  de- 
licacy not  shown  to  himself  more  than  duty  to  his  trust. 

Sir,  after  all,  I  confess  to  you,  that  I  have  had  scruples,  for  it 
is  the  first  time  that  1  have  ever  condescended  to  weigh  a  ques- 
tion of  the  kind  ;  but  I  am  content,  that  it  shall  be  said  of  me, 
that  in  July  last  I  forgot  myself  and  my  duty  too,  rather  than 
that  it  should  bo  said,  that,  now,  knowing  the  course  that  you 
pursue,  I  had  in  any  way  favoured  it.  On  the  contrary,  if  I  have 
erred,  I  am  willing  to  be  reproved,  but  my  motives  no  man  can 
impugn. 

My  refusal  to  resign  cannot  keep  me  one  moment  longer  than 
you  please  in  an  office  that  1  never  sought,  and  at  a  removal  from 
which  I  shall  not  grieve  on  my  own  account;  it  must,  on  the 
contrary,  hasten  my  exit.  So  that,  if  you  shall  proceed  in  wrest- 
ing from  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  the  citadel  in  his  posses- 
sion, the  act  can  only  be  accomplished  by  a  mandate,  which  will 
be  my  apology  for  no  longer  standing  in  the  breach. 

And  now,  sir,  allow  me  to  repeat  to  you  in  sincerity  of  heart, 
that,  in  taking  the  present  course,  under  a  solemn  sense  of  my 
obligations,  I  feel  a  sorrow  on  your  account,  far  greater  than  on 
my  own.  I  have  been  your  early,  uniform,  and  steadfast  friend  ; 
I  can  have  no  unkind  disposition,  but  shall  cherish  those  of  a 
kind  nature  that  I  feel.  You  proudly  occupy  the  hearts  of  your 
countrymen ;  but  still  it  is  the  lot  of  humanity  at  times  to  err. 
I  do  ample  justice  to  your  motives,  but  I  am  constrained  to  re- 
gret your  present  proceedings ;  and  I  devoutly  wish  that  you 
may  live  to  see  all  my  forebodings  contradicted,  and  your  mea- 
sures followed  by  results  beneficial  to  your  country,  and  ho- 
nourable to  yourself. 

With  the  utmost  consideration. 

Your  obedient  servant, 

.     W.  J.  DUANE. 


Note. — Whether  there  is  any  thing  in  the  above  letter,  which 
warranted  a  contumelious  return  of  it  to  me,  dispassionate  per- 
sons will  determine.  It  was  so  returned  to  me,  with  an  inquiry 
whether  I  would  remove  the  deposites.  I  again  refused,  and  on 
the  23d  of  September,  I  received  the  "mandate"  which  forced 
me  to  abandon  <'the  citadel"  in  my  possession. 

W.  J.  DUANE. 

^pril2\st,  1834. 


SPEEDY  BINDER 

ZZ:^Z    Syroc«««,   N.    Y. 
"     Stockton,  Coin. 


AA    000  588  669    ^ 


